A vintage video of Michael Jackson’s hair catching on fire during the third take of a 1983 Pepsi commercial was played for jurors Thursday as a makeup artist testified about the devastating migraine headaches the pop singer endured because of the injuries.
“I never saw anything like that in my life,” Karen Faye testified. “This was someone I knew and he was on fire.”
Faye, who worked with Jackson for 27 years as both a makeup and hair artist, took the stand in the second week of a wrongful death suit the singer’s mother and children filed against concert promoter AEG, which was bankrolling what was to be his comeback tour when the entertainer died in 2009 of a drug overdose.
FULL COVERAGE: AEG wrongful death trial »
Her testimony sometimes growing emotional, Faye recalled that when Jackson’s hair caught on fire, he continued dancing down the stairs, having no idea he was burning. Finally, a friend of his ran onto the stage and wrestled him to the ground to put it out.
“All his hair was gone and there was smoke coming out of his head.”
Jackson, she said, suffered intense migraines while the burns were healing, Faye said.
Instead of suing Pepsi, she said, Jackson asked Pepsi to build a burn center at Brotman Medical Center in Culver City where the singer was treated. “Everybody thought he’d sue Pepsi because it was a mistake,” the makeup artist said.
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Michael Jackson fans from left, Karlene Taylor, Yvonne Francis, Latrenda White and Jamie Lee, speak out against AEG Live. A jury found Wednesday that AEG Live was not liable in the death of the pop superstar. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Jury foreman Gregg Barden, center, listens to a reporter’s question about their verdict in the civil trial over the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Katherine Jackson and three grandchildren against AEG Live in the death of singer Michael Jackson. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos gathers the verdict documents moments before they were publicly disclosed. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Attorneys for Katherine Jackson, Deborah Chang, left and Kevin Boyle listen as jurors are polled following the verdict in the civil trial that lasted for five months. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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AEG attorney Marvin Putnam smiles during verdict polling at the conclusion of the Katherine Jackson v. AEG Live civil trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The jury found AEG not liable in Michael Jackson’s death. AEG attorney Jessica Stebbins Bina is at left. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Brian Panish, left, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, speaks with Kathryn Cahan and Marvin Putnam, attorneys with AEG Live LLC ,in Los Angeles County Superior Court in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death trial Thursday in downtown Los Angeles. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Bailiffs are sworn in to protect the jury as Brian Panish, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, waits during the trial in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday. The singer’s family has sued the entertainment firm AEG Live LLC, saying the company negligently hired and supervised Conrad Murray, the doctor who administered the dose of propofol that killed the singer. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Brian Panish, an attorney for the Michael Jackson family, delivers his closing argument to jurors in a packed courtroom in downtown Los Angeles on Sept. 24. The promoters of Michael Jackson’s last tour were “so excited” about making huge profits that they hired an unfit doctor to care for the star, his family’s lawyer said. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Marvin Putnam, lead attorney for AEG Live LLC and co-counsel Jessica Stebbins-Bina, listen to closing arguments by Michael Jackson family’s attorney, Brian Panish, in a packed courtroom Sept. 24. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Brian Panish, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, delivers his closing argument to jurors in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death lawsuit against concert promoter AEG Live LLC on Sept. 24. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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AEG attorney Marvin Putnam gives closing arguments in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death case on Sept. 25. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos listens to a rebuttal argument in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death case on Sept. 26. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson’s former wife and mother of two of his children, leaves Los Angeles County Superior Court after testifying at the trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, against AEG Live. (Nick Ut / Associated Press)
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Television crews report live outside Los Angeles County Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles on the first day of the trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit. (Joe Klamar / AFP/Getty Images)
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In this file photo dated Sept. 27, 2011, Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine Jackson arrives outside Los Angeles County Superior Court to hear opening statement in the involuntary manslaughter trial of pop superstar Michael Jackson’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray. Murray was convicted and sentenced to prison. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
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Singer Janet Jackson, left, Paris Katherine Jackson, Prince Michael Jackson II and LaToya Jackson are seen on stage during the memorial service for Michael Jackson at Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7, 2009. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
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Entertainer Michael Jackson announces on March 5, 2009, that he will play a series of comeback concerts at the London O2 Arena in July. Jackson died before the concerts could be held. (Joel Ryan / Associated Press)
Brian Panish, an attorney for Jackson’s mother and three children, played a video of Jackson’s hair catching on fire and another of the singer falling several stories during a concert in Munich.
In the second instance, she said, Jackson fell three or four stories when a prop he was standing on collapsed.
“When I saw what happen, I thought he could be dead,” Faye said.
But Jackson, she said, pulled himself up and continued performing. “I can’t disappoint the audience,” she said he later told her.
When he finished, he collapsed and security took him to the hospital, she said.
The fall, she said, left Jackson with back pain that flared when he was under physical or emotional stress.
The Jacksons are suing entertainment giant AEG, saying the firm negligently hired and supervised Dr. Conrad Murray, who gave Jackson a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol.
AEG says Jackson hired Murray and any payments the company was supposed to give him were actually part of a multimillion-dollar advance to Jackson.
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jeff.gottlieb@latimes.com
