While shooting a Pepsi commercial in front of thousands of fans at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium on January 27th, 1984, Michael Jackson was involved in a tragic accident.
US Weekly dug up new footage of the accident, in which Jackson’s face and head catch on fire after pyrotechnics are set off too early on the shoot’s sixth take.
Jackson and Pepsi settled out of court, and the singer donated his $1.5 million settlement to the Brotman Memorial Hospital in Culver City, California, and launched the Michael Jackson Burn Center for Children.
Many say that Jackson’s recovery from the burns led him to abuse painkillers and prescription medications that may have led to the cardiac arrest that killed him on June 25th.
Warning — the video is graphic:
