Michael Jackson's terrifying Pepsi accident may have led to 'downfall'

Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY Thu, April 23, 2026 at 6:27 PM UTC

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Spoiler alert! We're discussing major details about the plot of Michael Jackson biopic "Michael."

Yes, the new Michael Jackson movie plays the hits from “ABC” to “Human Nature.”

But “Michael” (in theaters April 24) also revisits one of the most traumatizing chapters of the King of Pop’s life.

On Jan. 27, 1984, the then-25-year-old superstar filmed a Pepsi commercial at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium for an audience of 3,000 fans. The shoot went smoothly until the sixth take, as he descended a staircase singing “Billie Jean.” A pyrotechnic exploded behind him, showering the singer with sparks and lighting his hair on fire.

As depicted in the film, he carried on with his performance for a few seconds before the back of his head was engulfed in flames.

According to a BBC news story published at the time, Jackson's brothers and crew members rushed to help him, covering his burning hair with his jacket. He wore his bedazzled silver glove even as he was transported to the hospital.

Audience members reported that he remained calm throughout the freak accident, and some even thought that it was part of the act.

“He was wonderful,” fan Virginia Watson told the BBC. “He reassured people even as he was being taken away on a stretcher.”

Michael Jackson suffered severe burns, hair loss while filming the Pepsi commercial

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Jaafar Jackson (left) performs as Michael during his 1987 Bad tour. Michael (right) onstage during his first solo show in Japan on Sept. 12, 1987.

Jackson was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and later moved to the burn center at Brotman Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for second- and third-degree burns. He also suffered severe hair loss.

He was discharged just a day later against his doctor’s recommendation, according to a United Press International (UPI) article published at the time. He did outpatient treatment in the months to follow, including surgery three months later to help remove scar tissue on his scalp.

“We recommended that Michael stay, but we determined this could be done as well out of the hospital as in the hospital,” Dr. Steve Hoefflin told reporters at Brotman Medical Center. “Despite our recommendation, he felt he did want to be treated as an outpatient.

“He was quite happy,” Hoefflin said. “He felt better after a good night's sleep. He's in excellent health and was showing very rapid signs of recovery. He's very pleased it was not more of a severe burn.”

According to Pat Lavalas, a nurse at Brotman, Jackson received many telephone calls, including get-well wishes from singers Teddy Pendergrass and Stephanie Mills.

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Michael Jackson is taken to a Los Angeles hospital with severe burns to the head on Jan. 27, 1984.

“He left in good spirits and his condition is good,” Lavalas said, as reported by UPI. “He didn't speak about the accident to us. He watched 'American Bandstand' this morning and people were getting his autograph.

“He sang a Stephanie Mills song in the bathroom,” she added. “He stayed in bed and opened telegrams, and he got a big kick out of one from a fan that said, 'I know you're hot, but this is ridiculous.’ ”

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Jackson performs an open-air concert in West Berlin on June 19, 1988.

As shown in “Michael,” Jackson settled out of court with Pepsi for $1.5 million (roughly $4.9 million today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). He donated all of the money to Brotman, and would visit with patients long after his treatment.

A month after the incident, on Feb. 28, 1984, Jackson went on to pick up a record eight Grammy Awards (the most in a single night), including album of the year ("Thriller") and record of the year ("Beat It"). That July, he embarked on the months-long, nationwide Victory tour with his brothers.

The Pepsi commercial still aired despite the tragedy, and footage of the fiery accident was obtained and released by Us Weekly in 2009.

Over the years, there have been varying reports speculating about what may have gone wrong during the fateful Pepsi shoot. A Los Angeles Fire Department captain told TMZ that he overheard the commercial’s director, Bob Giraldi, telling Jackson to stay at the top of the staircase longer so the fireworks would look “more majestic.” As a result, he was directly under the shower of sparks as the pyrotechnic went off.

“It was going to look like he was appearing out of the smoke, and that was totally against the instructions, and they did not inform us of that change,” Captain Don Donester told TMZ in 2009. “I waited until he got to the bottom of the stairs, grabbed him around his waist, and took him down.”

When contacted by TMZ, Giraldi denied Donester's claims.

Media coverage through the years has also suggested that Jackson’s hair products made him more flammable, but Donester told Access Hollywood in 2009 that the singer’s heavy use of gel may have actually “retarded the hair from being burned as quickly.”

Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication on June 25, 2009, at age 50. In TMZ’s new documentary “Michael Jackson: 30 Fatal Seconds,” Jackson family lawyer Brian Panish claims that the Pepsi incident sparked lifelong issues for the pop star around drug abuse and self-esteem.

“I believe the Pepsi commercial led to the severe downfall of Michael,” Panish says in the documentary. “He underwent extensive plastic surgery, skin grafting, where they took skin from another part of his body to fix the areas that were damaged. He had severe pain, he had debilitating pain, he had neuropathic pain, which is nerve pain in the scalp. The pain led to anxiety, it led to, really, most importantly, loss of sleep. The pain, the inability to sleep, causes the pain to be worse.

“The patient shouldn’t be the one telling the doctor the drugs that they should have,” Panish added. “The doctor should be in charge. And I think in this case, Michael became the one that was in charge.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Inside the Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial that left him burned

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