Jackson Getting Burned: The Video Surfaces

1984 Incident During Filming of Commercial Seen By Many as Moment that Changed His Life Forever

(CBS)  Us magazine has obtained video showing Michael Jackson's hair catching fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in 1984.

It is, observes "Early Show" national correspondent Hattie Kauffman, "the moment (his) life changed."

Jackson as at the top of his career at the time. The "Thriller" album had just come out.

In the first take as the Pepsi commercial was being filmed, everything went smoothly.

But in the sixth take, pyrotechnics ignited while he was at the top of some stairs. Incredibly, he continued to dance, for a full ten seconds, even as flames burned away his hair and scalp.

Jackson biographer and longtime friend J. Randy Taraborrelli, who was in the audience that night, recalls that, "Michael went down and then everybody went down on top of him, and you knew something had occurred. Then people started saying, 'He's been burned, he's been burned!" '

The severity of the burns was visible at the top of his head, as he was rushed offstage.

It's believed, says Kauffman, that the second- and third-degree burns on his scalp and face led to his addiction to painkillers.

"This," says Taraborrelli, "was when he decided that it was OK -- not only okay, but necessary -- to take pain medication."

Almost a decade later, the pop icon acknowledged his drug addiction, saying, "This medication was initially prescribed to soothe the excruciating pain that I was suffering after a recent reconstructive surgery on my scalp."

Complete coverage of Jackson's life and death

Now, Kauffman points out, pain medication is playing a pivotal role in the investigation of Jackson's death. Detectives removed bottles of the powerful anesthesia Propofol, also known as Diprovan, from Jackson's rented mansion. Probers are focusing on several doctors, including Jackson's cardiologist, Dr. Conrad Murray, who was with Jackson when he died.

"If the police can establish that Dr. Murray, or any other doctor, provided Diprovan to Michael Jackson in his home, outside a hospital capacity, then the crime would be negligent homicide," says defense attorney Trent Copeland, a CBS News legal analyst.

Jackson's fans weren't informed of the severity of the accident 25 years ago, Kauffman notes. Instead, the most famous image of the day was Michael waving from a gurney.

After the 1984 incident, Jackson began wearing wigs and hats to hide the scars, and increasingly turned to pain killers, sedatives, and finally, the anesthetics that are at the heart of the ongoing investigation, Kauffman says.

[dsw214]

Enouogh already! Let the poor man rest in peace.

[Michael_isking]

This video could explain a lot. But there is just one problem with it. I don't think Michael wanted this video shown when he was here physically, So what makes you think he is happy that it has came out now? The video does have a possible explanation that you can use as a source but how do you know Michael would want this? He might not be here physically, But he's here in spirit. And sometimes you still need to think about the person just like the family is thinking about the person by protecting his body and trying t figure out the right place to bury him. You just don't know if he would want this. It just might should have not been released for the whole world to see.

[geminispyder-2009]

Way to go CBS.
Is your news organization so lazy you have to report on 25-year-old news?

CBS, you still fail.

If the stories about Jackson's drug habits are fact, then we have one more example of 'Hollywood Excess'.
It is noteworthy that Michael Jackson joins the choir of other users in the Hollywood scene. Is is too bad that the message that the media insists on is such a negative example for today's young people.
Why, becomes the question, does the media dote on Michael Jackson as if he is a folk hero?
The answers should be forthcoming with the results of the drug tests on his remains. Be the tests positive then let this ridiculous contrived story just die. I cannot imagine what relationship burned hair has on one's drug habits except to give some sort of moral justification to them.
This is a no-news story that personifies drug use as an acceptable practice among today's youth.

[dragyn30]

Enough of this already. This footage was released right after is happened - DECADES AGO!!!!

He killed himself with his blatant abuse of prescription drugs - he bought these drugd and the Doctors that gave them to him.

ENOUGH ID ENOUGH. Let him rest in whatever peace he managed to find and end this coverage - the kids do not need to see anymore or hear anymore about their father.

[mswolfestock]

I'd love to know what they put in his hair that made it burn like that. I'd bet a nickel that the hair products contributed to the severity of MJ's burns.

Burns are extremely painful -- I know this from personal experience. I burned my left foot -- I dropped a kettle of boiling water on the floor. I lost the skin on about half of the foot. I learned what "writhing in agony" is all about. I was given Tylenol 3 with Coedine for the pain but there was a 48-hour stretch when those pills just did not work, after the doctors pulled a bunch of dead skin off the foot. IV Demerol was administered before the debridement but that only made me feel goofy -- I still felt the scalpel on top of the pain from the burn.

Anyway, about 3 weeks after the burn, I put the Tylenol 3's down. Asprin was all I needed, and not all the time as the burn continued to heal. Once the big pain was gone, I did not like how the pain pills made me feel -- groggy, burned out, lazy.

My point is this -- I chose to get on with my life after a painful accident. Michael Jackson chose to buy into his own hype -- it was his choice to demand these dangerous drugs when there was no rational reason for him to take them. He chose to ignore his friend's and family's attempts to intervene -- he shut them out or fired them if they spoke up. His choices killed him. Those choices would have killed anyone. Other people succumb to this every day, and THAT is the real tragedy here. Doctors and the "drug industry" make it all too easy.

[rrozsa]

"I'd love to know what they put in his hair that made it burn like that. I'd bet a nickel that the hair products contributed to the severity of MJ's burns."

Even just plain hair spray would make your hair catch fire and burn like that. Remember the recall of the "Rollerblade Barbie" dolls about 15 years ago -- the rollerblades caused tiny sparks that caused hair to ignite if the kid rolled it over a sister or mother's hair that had been sprayed with hair spray.

[doctajim]

The problem is, it was a scalp injury. The excess of vessels and nerve endings make both scalp cuts and scalp skin damage exceptionally painful and bloody. I too saw the frontal fire footage decades ago - but this new information I didn't see - I would have remembered it. I agree it was the AMA "drugs as usual" approach, rather than having him see a pain specialist to do biofeedback, anasthetic creams, and detox him from the opiates. I too knew the power of Rx - thankfully free of that monkey.

[TheVivisectionist]

Just because you didn't get addicted to painkillers doesn't mean everyone who takes them will be able to stop so easily. Some people are predisposed to addiction; just as some people are predisposed to judging other people's "choices."

[Slrman]

This video is not new. I saw it not long after it happened. It must have been widely available at the time as I had no special access to anything, then.

[rrozsa]

I too am confused about the so-called "never-before released" video. I can recall seeing it a long time ago. But in my memory, we just saw his head catching fire, shown from the front view. I don't recall seeing it from the rear view, and lasting quite as long as the video we are seeing now. Nor do I recall the previous video showing his burned head when he stood back up. So maybe this one is in fact new.

[spiritwalk]

I agree with Sirman. There is nothing new about the video. Videos and photos of this have been around since it happened.

Since the kids have not been seen again and the papparazzi have no interest in any new pictures of Joe Jacksons sour puss they are pulling out anything they can get to keep the story going.

NASA also announced to day that rhey were relasing new enhanced video of Armstrong walking on the Moon. Do you think you will see anything new there any more than with the Jackson video?