Pepsi Responds to Emergence of 1984 Jackson Ad Mishap Footage

Yesterday, Us Weekly unearthed footage of Michael Jackson being severely burned while filming a 1984 Pepsi commercial in Los Angeles. Today, a representative for Pepsi told EW's Music Mix that the company had no hand in releasing the video.

"We don't know how the footage became available. Twenty-five years later, we'd question why anyone would want to share such frightening images. It was a terrifying event that we'll never forget," Pepsi spokeswoman Nicole Bradley told EW. "We were grateful for Michael's recovery and for the chance to continue working with him on a number of successful projects. As for Michael as an artist, his music helped us define a generation and, like everyone else, we're deeply saddened by his passing."

The fiery accident and its painful aftermath is often cited as the start of Jackson's dependence on prescription drugs. Jackson suffered second- and third-degree burns to his face and scalp, and sought prescription drugs during his recovery. The powerful sedative Propofol is at the forefront of the investigation into Jackson's June 25th death from sudden cardiac arrest. As Rock Daily previously reported, Jackson's nurse/nutritionist said the star desperately sought the drug in the months before he died.

As for whether Pepsi will demand for the controversial ad footage to be removed from the Net, the company says that their hands might be tied. "We don't know where it came from. We don't know what that footage is. It's 25 years ago," the Pepsi rep told EW. "We don't know who owns it, so we have no recourse as far as I know. I can only tell you what I know. We didn't put it up and we don't know where it came from."

Related Stories:
• Michael Jackson Pepsi Ad Footage Unearthed From 1984 Shoot
• Investigators Reportedly Treating Jackson Death As a Homicide
• Michael Jackson Remembered: Inside Rolling Stone's Special Issue

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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