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Bad World Tour

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This article is about the tour. You may have been looking for the album .

The Bad World Tour is the first worldwide concert tour by Michael Jackson . It was launched in support of the artist's seventh studio album, Bad (1987) and lasted sixteen months, spanning from September 12, 1987 until January 27, 1989. The shows were sponsored by Pepsi .

The tour became the second highest grossing tour of the decade, as well as one of the most attended tours in history. As announced by Jackson himself during the last show of the tour, these were initially meant to be his last performances in history. However, the Bad World Tour was eventually followed by the Dangerous World Tour and HIStory World Tour .

• 1 Background
• 2 Awards and nominations
• 4.1 Cancelled dates
• 5.1 Live at Wembley July 16, 1988
• 5.2 Broadcasts
• 6.1 Creative Directors
• 6.2 Production
• 6.3 Dancers
• 6.5 Background Vocals
• 6.6 Stylists and Assistants
• 6.7 Sponsors

Background [ ]

For the longest time, while already releasing hit solo albums, Michael still toured with the Jacksons . At a December 1984 show of the Victory Tour , Jackson announced his departure from the group, stating it was the final show he was gonna play with them.

On June 29, 1987, Michael's manager, Frank DiLeo announced the singer was going to embark on his first solo concert tour. The shows would be sponsored by Pepsi, a company which previously got Jackson in hospital after a tragic pyrotechnics accident a few years prior.

The tour was originally going to finish in Tokyo, but Jackson suffered from swollen vocal cords after the first of six concerts in Los Angeles in November 1988. The remaining five shows were then rescheduled for January 1989. However, due to this decision, Greg Phillinganes had to leave the band in early January, as his schedule was busy as he was set to tour with Eric Clapton. Instead, John Barnes would be hired to take Phillinganes' place. With the tour ending, Michael sought medical care for vocal-chord nodules.

Awards and nominations [ ]

The Bad World Tour was nominated in 1988 for the Tour of the Year 1988 award at the now non-existent International Rock Awards.

Setlist [ ]

• " Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
• " Things I Do For You "
• Off the Wall "
• " Human Nature "
• " Heartbreak Hotel "
• " She's Out of My Life "
• " Jackson 5 Medley " (" I Want You Back "/" The Love You Save "/" I'll Be There ")
• " Rock with You "
• " Lovely One "
• " Bad Groove " (Interlude)
• " Workin' Day and Night "
• " Beat It "
• " Billie Jean "
• " Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) "
• " Thriller "
• " I Just Can't Stop Loving You "

1988-1989 [ ]

• " Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' "
• " Another Part of Me "
• " Smooth Criminal "
• " I Just Can't Stop Loving You " (duet with Sheryl Crow )
• " Dirty Diana "
• ' Thriller "
• " The Way You Make Me Feel "

Tour dates [ ]

Cancelled dates [ ], broadcasts & recordings [ ], live at wembley july 16, 1988 [ ].

On September 18, 2012, over two decades after the show took place, a DVD of the July 16, 1988 show at the Wembley Stadium was released as a part of the Bad 25 promo and box set. Additionally, the deluxe edition of Bad 25 includes audio from the show on the third disc as well. The full film was later uploaded to the official Michael Jackson YouTube channel.

Broadcasts [ ]

• Tokyo (September 12, 1987)
• Tokyo (September 13, 1987)
• Tokyo (September 14, 1987)
• Nishinomiya (September 1987)
• Osaka (October 1987)
• Melbourne (November 13, 1987)
• Sydney (November 1987)
• Brisbane (November 1987)
• Kansas City (February 1988)
• New York City (March 1988)
• St. Louis (March 13, 1988)
• Indianapolis (March 1988)
• Louisville (March 20, 1988)
• Hartford (March-April 1988)
• Houston (April 1988)
• Rome (May 1988)
• Vienna (June 2, 1988)
• Gothenburg (1988)
• Basel (June 16, 1988)
• West Berlin (June 19, 1988)
• Paris (June 1988)
• Cologne (July 3, 1988)
• Munich (July 8, 1988)
• Hockenheim (July 10, 1988)
• London (July 14, 1988)
• London (July 15, 1988)
• London (July 22, 1988)
• Cork (July 1988)
• Marbella (August 5, 1988)
• Madrid (August 7, 1988)
• Barcelona (August 9, 1988)
• Würzburg (August 21, 1988)
• Werchter (August 23, 1988)
• Leeds (August 29, 1988)
• Hannover (September 2, 1988)
• Milton Keynes (September 10, 1988)
• Liverpool (September 11, 1988)
• Pittsburgh (September 1988)
• Landover (October 1988)
• Los Angeles (November 13, 1988)
• Tokyo (December 1988)
• Los Angeles (January 27, 1989)

Personnel [ ]

Creative directors [ ].

• Michael Jackson (Lead Vocals, Show Director, Dancer and Choreographer)
• Peggy Holmes (Assistant Director)
• Vince Patterson (Choreographer)
• Tom McPhillips (Set Designer)
• Allen Branton (Lighting Designer)

Production [ ]

• Frank DiLeo (Personal Management)
• Sal Bonafede (Tour Coordinator)
• John Draper (Tour Manager)
• Benny Collins (Production Manager)
• Nelson Hayes (Production Coordinator)
• Rob Henry (Production Coordinator)
• Gerry Bakalian (Stage Manager)
• Tait Towers, Inc. (Set Construction)
• Clair Bros. (Sound)
• Kevin Elison (house sound engineer)
• Rick Coberly (Monitor Engineer)
• Ziffren, Brittenham and Branca (Attorneys)
• Gelfand, Rennert and Feldman (Business Management)
• Solters/Roskin, Friedman Inc.(Public Relations)
• Bob Jones (V.P. of Communications, MJJ)
• Glen Brunman (Media Relations, Epic Records)
• Gretta Walsh Of Revel Travel (Travel Agent)

Dancers [ ]

• Randy Allaire
• Evaldo Garcia
• Dominic Lucero
• LaVelle Smith
• Greg Phillinganes (Lead keyboards, synthesizers, musical director)
• Rory Kaplan (keyboards, synthesizers)
• Christopher Currell (Synclavier, digital guitar, sound effects)
• Ricky Lawson (Drums)
• Jennifer Batten (Rhythm and lead guitar)
• Jon Clark (Lead and rhythm guitar)
• Don Boyette (bass guitar, synth bass)
• John Barnes (lead keyboards, synthesizers) (1989 Los Angeles concerts only)

Background Vocals [ ]

• Kevin Dorsey (vocal director)
• Darryl Phinnessee
• Dorian Holley
• Sheryl Crow

Stylists and Assistants [ ]

• Karen Faye (Hair & Make-up)
• Tommy Simms (Stylist)
• Gianni Versace, Dennis Tompkins & Michael Bush (Costumes Designed)
• Jolie Levine (Michael's Personal Assistant)
• Meredith Besser (Assistant)

Sponsors [ ]

• Nippon Television (Japan only)

Gallery [ ]

• On this tour, Jackson performed " Thriller " live for the first time.
• During the concert in Brisbane on November 28, 1987, Stevie Wonder made a guest appearance during the song " Bad ."
• The set list would be changed around for shows in the European second leg, performing " Human Nature " & " Smooth Criminal " after " Rock with You ".
• " The Way You Make Me Feel " was sometimes taken out of the set list for time constraints or other unknown reasons, so " Man in the Mirror " was performed in the " Bad " jacket, instead of classic "The Way You Make Me Feel" blue shirt. During other shows, both "Man in the Mirror" and "The Way You Make Me Feel" were removed, leaving Jackson ending the show with "Bad", as he'd done in the first leg.
• During the last 1989 Los Angeles show Michael wore a white shirt for "The Way You Make Me Feel" instead of a blue one.
• Jackson would only wear the black shirt for the first show and only time wear he would wear it. He would not wear it again due to the costume & lighting obscuring his dancing.
• 1 List of unreleased songs
• 2 Bigi Jackson
• 3 Brandon Jackson

Old News, Vintage Photos & Nostalgic Stories

Photos of the michael jackson’s biggest and most iconic world tour “bad” back in 1987-1988.

Bad was the first ever solo concert tour by Michael Jackson, launched in support of his seventh studio album Bad (1987). Sponsored by Pepsi and spanning 16 months, the tour included 123 concerts to 4.4 million fans across 15 countries making it the second highest grossing tour of 1988. When the tour concluded it grossed a total of $125 million, adding two new entries in the Guinness World Records for the largest grossing tour in history and the tour with the largest attended audience. In April 1989, the tour was nominated for “Tour of the Year 1988” at the inaugural International Rock Awards.

On June 29, 1987, Jackson’s manager Frank DiLeo announced the singer’s plan to embark on his first solo world concert tour. T he tour began in Japan, marking Jackson’s first performances in the country since 1973 as part of The Jackson 5. The first nine scheduled concerts that began on September 12 sold out within hours, and five more were added due to high demand. Over 600 journalists, cameramen and fans waited for Jackson’s arrival to the country at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport. His pet chimpanzee Bubbles, who took a separate flight, was greeted by more than 300 people.A chartered jumbo jet was used to carry 22 truckloads of equipment, along with Jackson’s entourage of 132 for the tour.The stage set used 700 lights, 100 speakers, 40 lasers, three mirrors and two 24-by-18 foot screens. Performers wore 70 costumes, four of which were attached with fiber optic lights.

While in Tokyo, Australian pop music critic Ian “Molly” Meldrum conducted an exclusive interview Jackson and DiLeo that was featured on 60 Minutes in the United States.On September 18, Jackson was handed the Key to the City by Yasushi Oshima, the mayor o fOsaka. He was accompanied by Bubbles, who was the first animal allowed inside the city’s town hall. Jackson dedicated his Japanese concerts to Yoshiaki Hagiwara, a five-year-old boy who was kidnapped and murdered, and gave £12,000 to the parents of Hagiwara.Attendance figures for the first 14 dates in Japan totalled a record-breaking 450,000. Crowds of 200,000 were what past performers could manage to draw for a single tour.Nippon Television was a co-sponsor with Pepsi for the Japanese dates.

Jackson performed five concerts in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in Australia in November. While off stage, he spent time visiting sick children at their homes in the Sydney suburbs.

Rehearsals for the tour’s 1988 leg took place at the Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, Florida from January 22 to February 18, 1988. Vincent Paterson, who had worked with Jackson on several videos, was brought in to choreograph and co-direct the tour with Michael. On the last day of preparation, Jackson allowed 420 school pupils to watch him rehearse after the children made him a rap music video in his honour.The first performances were to begin in Atlanta, Georgia, yet Pepsi officials objected as the city was home to rival drinks company Coca-Cola.For both Atlanta shows, Jackson gave 100 tickets to the Children’s Wish Foundation for terminally ill children.The first of three concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City in March served as a benefit to raise $500,000 to the United Negro College Fund. Jackson presented a check of $600,000 to the fund. On March 2, 1988, Jackson performed at the 30th Annual Grammy Awards, receiving an enormous standing ovation after performing “The Way You Make Me Feel” and “Man in the Mirror”. Jackson’s album, Bad was also nominated for Album of the Year at the ceremony.

Jackson began his European tour in Rome at the Flaminio Stadium on May 23, 1988. Police and security guards rescued hundreds of fans from being crushed in the crowd of 30,000.Police reported 130 women fainted at the concert in Vienna on June 2. On June 17, Jackson travelled to the town of Vevey to meet Oona O’Neill, the widow of comic actor Charlie Chaplin. “I have fulfilled my biggest childhood dream”, said Jackson after the visit. The most successful of the European dates were those in London atWembley Stadium. Ticket demand for the five July dates exceeded 1.5 million, enough to fill the 72,000 capacity venue 20 times.Jackson performed seven sold out shows, beating the previous record held by Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Genesis. More shows could have been added, but the venue had reached its quota for live performances.The third concert on July 16 was attended by Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Charles. On September 8, Jackson was entered into the Guinness World Records , the first of three times from the tour alone. The Wembley shows were attended by a record 504,000 people. Management also presented him with a special award. On July 30, NBC aired Michael Jackson Around the World , a 90-minute special documenting the singer on tour. On August 29, after a birthday performance in Leeds, Jackson donated $130,000 to Give For Life. The final European show was held in Liverpool on September 11, staged at Aintree Racecourse. 1,550 fans were reported injured among the crowd of 125,000.

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Breaking News

MICHAEL JACKSON SIGNS UP WITH PEPSI

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In acknowledging what the Guinness Book of World Records has pronounced “the biggest commercial sponsorship deal” ever struck between a corporation and a performer, Michael Jackson made a brief appearance here Tuesday to renew his partnership with Pepsi-Cola and to say, simply, “Thank you.”

As reported in The Times on Monday, the pact is worth $50 million, with an initial up-front payment to the singer of between $10 million and $15 million. Neither Jackson’s entourage nor sources within the Pepsi camp would specify the exact dollar amount.

With advertising underwriting, tax breaks for Jackson and promotional tie-ins with a possible international concert tour, the value of the deal will come to more than $50 million, according to a close Jackson adviser.

The long-term agreement between the soft-drink company and the singer calls for Jackson to help create and appear in worldwide Pepsi ads, and for Pepsi to sponsor Jackson’s next album and any accompanying concert tour.

In 1984, in an agreement that reportedly earned Jackson $6 million, Pepsi sponsored the entertainer’s hugely successful Victory Tour, and the singer appeared, along with his five brothers, in two highly publicized and award-winning TV commercials on behalf of Pepsi. The lucrative deal resulted in “a whole ‘new generation’ image for Pepsi” and “skyrocketing” sales, said Pepsi-Cola USA President Roger Enrico.

Formal announcement of the new agreement was made by Enrico and Frank Dileo, Jackson’s personal manager, at a packed press conference at the Red Parrot nightclub on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The 27-year-old Jackson, wearing his signature sunglasses and military uniform, appeared with the two men for about five minutes, but declined to take questions from the press.

“He’s very shy,” Enrico said after Jackson departed. “He’s most comfortable when he’s in control of the situation, and this sort of situation is out of his control.”

Details of the new agreement were sketchy as outlined for the press by Enrico and Dileo Tuesday. However, a Pepsi source, who asked not to be identified, estimated that direct revenues to Jackson “should be in the neighborhood of $10 million.” Total cost to Pepsi, including advertising and production costs, will total as much as $50 million, Pepsi sources said. (Sources within the Jackson camp told The Times last week that the direct payment to Jackson would actually be more than $15 million.)

The recently completed deal covers a three-year period, starting with the scheduled release of Jackson’s new album next fall, according to the Pepsi source. Other informed sources speculated Tuesday on the possibility of a Jackson concert tour in 1987.

Enrico and Dileo would neither confirm nor deny reports that the deal also called for Jackson to receive his share of the agreement in advance.

They did say that Jackson plans to appear in three TV commercials for Pepsi in 1987, including one in Spanish. They said he also will contribute two pieces of original music to Pepsi’s 1987 TV ad campaign, and in 1988 he will serve as “creative consultant” on Pepsi’s TV advertising, and perhaps make his directorial debut with a commercial.

In a brief, separate interview Tuesday, Enrico called the costs of the new agreement “outrageous,” but said that they were “necessitated by the competition to corner this huge (soft-drink) market.” Referring to Jackson, he added, “And I think he’s worth it.”

Michael Jackson to be Pepsi's King of Pop cans

Michael Jackson is dancing again, on Pepsi cans.

The soft drink maker and the estate for the late pop star on Thursday unveiled plans to put the singer's silhouette on one billion soft drink cans in a global pop culture ad campaign.

The late King of Pop, who pitched Pepsi in 1980s commercials as "the choice of a new generation", will appear in some of his iconic dance poses for the promotion, which will also coincide with the 25th anniversary of the singer's "Bad" album.

The limited edition Pepsi cans will go on sale first in China, starting on Saturday, and then in the United States later this month. They will be rolled out in Asia, South America and Europe later in 2012.

Fans of the singer, who died in June 2009, will also be able to enter contests for tickets to Cirque du Soleil's show "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour."

Pepsi, Jackson's estate, and his Sony Music record company are also teaming up to share new mixes of music from the "Bad" album as part of the campaign.

"We are thrilled to bring Michael and Pepsi back together, as they were in 1988, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 'Bad' album and tour and to put Michael on one billion Pepsi cans," John Branca and John McClain, the executors of Jackson's estate, said in a statement.

The Jackson cans are part of Pepsi's new "Live for Now" campaign, which seeks to harness pop culture to boost sales. Pepsi-Cola is currently No. 3 in the United States, behind Coca-Cola and Diet Coke in a declining market for carbonated drinks.

Pepsi said earlier this week that rapper Nicki Minaj would feature in a commercial as part of the campaign.

Jackson has been associated with Pepsi since 1983 when he appeared alongside his Jackson 5 brothers in his first Pepsi campaign.

But the memories are not all good. Jackson's hair famously caught fire while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984 in Los Angeles, scorching his scalp. The incident was later blamed for triggering Jackson's addiction to painkillers that caused him to enter rehab in 1993.

Jackson, 50, died in Los Angeles from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol and sedatives. His personal doctor is serving a four-year jail sentence in Los Angeles for involuntary manslaughter.

What do you think of the cans and the use of Jackson's likeness? Discuss on Facebook .

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Watch CBS News

Pepsi to bring back Michael Jackson in new ad campaign

May 3, 2012 / 10:01 AM EDT / CBS/AP

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - PepsiCo Inc. is going on a reunion tour with Michael Jackson.

On Thursday, the company is announcing its deal with the Jackson's estate to use the late pop star's image for its new global marketing push. The nature of the promotion will vary by country, but will include a TV ad, special edition cans bearing Jackson's image and chances to download remixes of some of Jackson's most famous songs.

Pepsi, which first partnered with The King of Pop in 1983, did not disclose the terms of its deal with the singer's estate.

Brad Jakeman, Pepsi's chief creative officer, says the broader "Live For Now" campaign was developed over the past 10 months and is intended to amplify the company's longstanding ties with pop culture.

Consumers in the U.S. and China will be the first to get a taste of the campaign in coming weeks, which is timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of "Bad," the singer's multiplatinum album. The campaign will spread to about two dozen countries by fall.

In the U.S., the company is rolling out collectible 16-ounce blue cans that bear an image of Jackson striking one of his iconic poses. Consumers will be able to scan codes on the cans with their phones to download remixed tracks from "Bad."

In the Chinese market, consumers will also see a TV ad featuring Jackson. Contests will also let consumers win tickets to a Michael Jackson-inspired show by Cirque du Soleil and leather jackets inspired by the singer's style. The global campaign builds on Pepsi's deal with the singer's estate last year to use his image in a commercial that premiered during the "The X Factor" TV show last year.

Although Pepsi is banking on the nostalgia Jackson can evoke, the partnership also resurrects painful memories. In 1984, Jackson's hair famously caught fire while filming a commercial for Pepsi at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The blaze happened after a spark from a pyrotechnics display landed on the singer's head. Jackson suffered severe burns and many trace his addiction to painkillers to the incident. Pepsi gave Jackson $1.5 million as a result.

The promotion is part of a global marketing blitz planned for the year ahead by Pepsi, which is looking to revive its brand and win back market share from The Coca-Cola Co. Next week, Pepsi is also launching a TV ad featuring singer Nicki Minaj and announcing details of its  partnership with Twitter  to stream concerts online.

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Brand Marketing

Michael jackson, pepsi made marketing history.

Leaders from Glossier , Shopify , Mastercard and more will take the stage at Brandweek to share what strategies set them apart and how they incorporate the most valued emerging trends. Register to join us this September 23–26 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Essentially two kinds of people existed in the ’80s: Coke drinkers and Pepsi drinkers. And if you loved Michael Jackson, you had good reason to fall into the latter group.

In November 1983, one year after Thriller was released, Jackson (with his brothers) and PepsiCo struck a $5 million partnership that would shatter the record for a celebrity endorsement deal, link the two entities for a decade and set the bar for every integrated marketing campaign that would follow.

Jackson’s managers approached Jay Coleman, founder and CEO of Entertainment Marketing & Communications International, who would eventually broker all three Jackson-Pepsi deals, with the idea of partnering Jackson with a major brand at a firm asking price. Coleman, who had already orchestrated Jovan fragrances’ landmark sponsorship of the Rolling Stones’ Tattoo You tour, first proposed the idea to Coca-Cola.

“They gave it serious consideration yet couldn’t make that leap of faith,” Coleman says. “They saw anything they would do with Michael as a more targeted, ethnic campaign.” Coca-Cola offered a $1 million deal that was rejected and the Jacksons moved on to PepsiCo, where then-CEO Roger Enrico was looking for a big idea to launch his youth-targeted “New generation” campaign for the brand. “The goal was to make Pepsi look young and Coke look old, and Michael Jackson was in fact the choice of that generation — he was already the King of Pop, even though he hadn’t declared it,” Coleman says.

PepsiCo and its ad agency, BBDO, also hesitated at the possible cost, but Coleman’s proposal proved too appealing. “I pitched it as a multifaceted marketing campaign with lots of touch points: big-time advertising, tour sponsorship, logos on the cans, displays in the supermarket and PR-friendly events,” Coleman says. When Jackson suggested using his song “Billie Jean” as the jingle (with the rewritten chorus, “You’re the Pepsi generation/Guzzle down and taste the thrill of the day/And feel the Pepsi way”), Pepsi was sold.

So pervasive was the first campaign, which ran from 1983 to 1984, that the stories surrounding it have become like fables: the infamous accident that set Jackson’s hair on fire and resulted in his rumored first cosmetic surgery, the star’s desire to hide his face behind sunglasses for a “less is more” effect, and so on.

But its impact on the music and advertising industries was equally widespread. “It was definitely game-changing,” says Brian J. Murphy, evp of branded entertainment at TBA Global. “You couldn’t separate the tour from the endorsement from the licensing of the music, and then the integration of the music into the Pepsi fabric. If you pulled any one of those pieces apart, it really took away from what the campaign was all about.”

Jackson’s creative input also was groundbreaking. “Michael was very much involved in the execution of everything, from the choreography to the location scouting,” says Bob Giraldi, who directed Jackson’s most iconic Pepsi commercials — from the very first “street scene” spot featuring kids dancing with their idol, to the “Bad” series that amounted to a mini action movie — as well as the “Beat It” music video. “He really knew what worked.”

Apart from a short-lived deal with the athletic footwear brand L.A. Gear, other endorsements were scant during the prime of Jackson’s career, though he shot a few international TV spots for Suzuki, Sony and Esonic.

Pepsi, meanwhile, had sales of $7.7 billion in 1984 and an increase in market share while Coca-Cola’s dropped, according to financial reports at the time. Pepsi signed a second, $10 million deal with Jackson in support of his “Bad” album and tour through 1987-88. Where Jackson’s initial deal with Pepsi was limited to the United States, this one was global, covering 20-plus countries during the singer’s world tour. The trend of Pepsi signing music stars as spokespeople has continued into the present day, with Lionel Richie, Madonna, Beyoncé and Britney Spears all lending their name to the brand. Corporations of all stripes now align themselves frequently with pop artists, but with music and advertising becoming increasingly fragmented, Jackson’s deals with Pepsi will likely remain the industry standard-bearer. Murphy says that 360-degree deals “are very effective, but whether they’ll ever become that front-page newsworthy really depends on the level of wattage of the artist. I don’t know that we’ll see something like this again.”

Nielsen Business Media

Monica Herrera

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Michael Jackson: A Quarter-Century Of Sexual Abuse Allegations

Anastasia Tsioulcas

Michael Jackson, leaving the Santa Barbara County courthouse during his 2005 criminal trial. Carlo Allegri/Getty Images hide caption

Michael Jackson, leaving the Santa Barbara County courthouse during his 2005 criminal trial.

Updated on March 15 at 1 p.m. ET

The two-part documentary Leaving Neverland , which began airing on HBO on Sunday night, tells the story of two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who accuse Michael Jackson of having sexually abused them for years, beginning when they were respectively about seven and 10 years old.

Michael Jackson's estate continues to deny all allegations, as the entertainer did in his lifetime. His estate has sued HBO for distributing the Dan Reed-directed documentary, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January; in its filings, the estate called Leaving Neverland a "posthumous character assassination ."

It's no secret that, before and even after his death in 2009, Jackson was the subject of multiple sexual abuse accusations and police investigations as well as civil and criminal lawsuits. This timeline lays out key dates, known allegations and the main accusations the artist and his estate have faced, going back more than a quarter century.

December 1986: James Safechuck meets Michael Jackson on a Pepsi ad set

A 10-year-old California boy, James (Jimmy) Safechuck, is hired to appear in a Pepsi commercial alongside Michael Jackson. In Leaving Neverland , Safechuck says that Jackson befriended him and his family after the ad began airing, that the singer was immediately generous to him and allegedly began lavishing him with gifts — including, Safechuck says, his jacket from the "Thriller" video. Safechuck and his family also say that Jackson began flying them for visits and on vacations.

On one such trip to Hawaii, Safechuck alleges, Michael Jackson first asked the boy to sleep with him in his bed.

August 1993: Los Angeles police begin investigating Jackson

The Los Angeles Times reports that the LAPD has begun investigating Jackson based on allegations that he possibly molested four children, including a 13-year-old boy . (The boy is mentioned by name and in photos in Leaving Neverland .)

The police find no incriminating evidence at Jackson's Neverland ranch, nor at his Los Angeles condominium.

In a lengthy report published the following January, Vanity Fair — calling the boy "Jamie" — publishes the 13-year-old and his family's allegations. The boy's lawyer tells the magazine, "Michael was in love with the boy."

The family says that Jackson argued with Jamie's mother about sleeping in the same bed with him, saying, according to Vanity Fair , "Why don't you trust me? If we're a family, you've got to think of me as a brother. Why make me feel so bad? This is a bond. It's not about sex. This is something special." From that point onwards, the family claims, Jamie slept with Jackson nearly every night for the next several months.

September 1993: One family files suit against Jackson

In the filing, a family — whose child is ostensibly the 13-year-old boy referred to as "Jamie" by Vanity Fair — alleges that Jackson had "repeatedly committed sexual battery" on their son.

Jackson's team maintains that the suit is part of an attempt to extort the star for $20 million. More than a decade later, however, Court TV reveals in a 2004 report that Jackson settled the suit for even more than that . As part of the settlement, the singer denied any "wrongful acts."

In September 1994, prosecutors announce that they are not filing criminal charges against Jackson involving three boys — because the "primary alleged victim" declined to testify.

In the course of the investigation and ensuing civil case, Jackson and his team put various young boys on the witness stand and in front of cameras.

One is 10-year-old Wade Robson, an Australian boy who first met the megastar five years earlier, when he won a Michael Jackson dance contest in Brisbane. Within a few years, Robson had moved with his mother to Los Angeles with Jackson's encouragement.

In 1993, Robson's mother talked to CNN about her child's "slumber parties" with the singer.

"They play so hard, they fall asleep, they're exhausted," she tells the interviewer. "There's nothing more to it than that."

In Leaving Neverland , Robson says: "I was excited by the idea of being able to defend him. And being able to save him."

December 1993: La Toya Jackson says that abuse allegations are true

On Dec. 8, at a press conference held while on tour in Tel Aviv, Jackson's estranged sister La Toya alleges that the abuse accusations against Michael are true.

"This is very difficult for me," she says. "Michael is my brother. ... But I cannot, and I will not, be a silent collaborator of his crimes against small, innocent children." She claims that their mother, Katherine Jackson, has shown her checks that Michael allegedly made out to the families of some very young boys, at least one allegedly as young as nine years old. She says that the amounts paid out were substantial, though she doesn't specify any sums.

LaToya Jackson also repeats her claim that she and her siblings were abused, including sexually abused, by their parents. It's an assertion she first made at least two years earlier in her 1991 autobiography La Toya: Growing Up in the Jackson Family .

Other members of the family, including Katherine Jackson, rally to Michael's defense. The Washington Post quotes Katherine as saying, "La Toya is lying and I'll tell her to her face she's lying," adding that her daughter was "trying to make money off of [Michael's] downfall."

In a follow-up interview with the Today show's Katie Couric, La Toya Jackson claims that their mother had shown her such checks as early as "around '84." However, she tells Couric she can't prove that the alleged checks were meant as hush money, nor has she ever seen him in bed with a boy herself.

In 2011, in a second autobiography called Starting Over , La Toya Jackson retracted her allegations against both her brother Michael and her father Joe, saying that she was forced to make them by her husband at the time, whom she accused of being abusive.

"My family and Michael knew that wasn't really me talking," the Daily Beast quotes her as saying in an interview. "I never believed for a minute my brother was guilty of anything like that."

February 2003: Living with Michael Jackson documentary airs in the U.K. and U.S.

The documentary, reported by journalist Martin Bashir, includes footage of Jackson holding hands with and cradling a young teenager, then identified as a cancer survivor, and says that they share a bed. Both Jackson and the boy deny that anything untoward is going on. "My greatest inspiration comes from kids," Jackson says to Bashir indignantly, while holding onto the child. "It's all inspired from that level of innocence, that consciousness of purity."

After the documentary airs, Jackson issues a statement denying any wrongdoing, and says that he is "devastated" by Bashir's portrayal of him. Nevertheless, Living with Michael Jackson sparks a criminal investigation.

November 20, 2003: Police book Jackson on child molestation charges

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office provided this mug shot after he was booked on multiple counts of child molestation in November 2003. Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office/Getty Images hide caption

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office provided this mug shot after he was booked on multiple counts of child molestation in November 2003.

Two days after raiding Neverland , Jackson's famous ranch in Santa Barbara County, Calif., the sheriff's office arrests Jackson on charges of child molestation, but does not immediately disclose details of the charges or identify the victim.

Jackson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, calls the charges "a big lie." After posting $3 million in bail the same day and surrendering his passport, Jackson is allowed to go free as he awaits trial.

Jackson is eventually indicted on 10 criminal counts, including child molestation, abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.

February 28, 2005: Jackson's criminal case goes to trial

After being charged in late 2003 and then given additional charges the following April, Jackson is put on trial. The victim is identified as Gavin Arvizo, the young man who appeared in the Bashir documentary; he is among those who testify at the trial.

Among those testifying in Jackson's defense are actor Macaulay Culkin and Wade Robson. (By 2005, Robson is a noted choreographer and songwriter, who has created dance routines for the likes of Britney Spears and 'NSYNC, and who has already had his own show on MTV.)

They are described as "special friends" of Jackson who have slept with the singer in his bed. The men deny that Jackson has touched them or otherwise acted inappropriately. According to The Washington Post , Robson's mother, Joy, says of the singer: "Unless you know him, it's hard to understand him. ... He's not the boy next door."

Gavin Arvizo is now aged 14, and says on the stand that Jackson masturbated him; Gavin's brother corroborates his claim, and says that Jackson gave them alcohol and showed them pornography. Gavin's mother, Janet Arvizo, also appears as a witness; the BBC describes her testimony as " combative and rambling." A former member of Jackson's household staff, Blanca Francia, testifies that she saw the singer taking a shower with Robson. Francia's son also alleges that Jackson has molested him.

Years later, Robson claims he lied at the 2005 trial. According to a 2014 Daily Beast article, prosecutors wanted to name Safechuck — who had provided a witness statement defending Jackson in the 1993 suit — as one of the singer's alleged victims. However, Safechuck declined to participate in the 2005 trial, and the prosecution excluded him as a potential victim. Safechuck claims later that he had lied in the statement he gave to prosecutors in the 1993 investigation.

June 13, 2005: Jackson is acquitted of all criminal charges

After a trial that had a circus-like atmosphere and whose proceedings seemed to sometimes be upstaged by Jackson's antics (including showing up late in pajamas on one occasion), the singer is acquitted of all charges. At least some of the jurors seem to place the onus on the alleged victim's mother, Janet Arvizo. according to NPR. Allowing a child to sleep with any non-family member, one of the female jurors asks, according to NPR, "What mother in her right mind would allow that to happen?"

Within months, prosecutors charge Janet Arvizo with fraud and perjury related to statements made at the Jackson trial; she accepts a plea agreement the following year.

June 25, 2009: Michael Jackson dies, age 50

The singer is found unresponsive at his home in Holmby Hills, Calif. At the time of his death, his family releases a statement saying that it is believed that he died of cardiac arrest.

On Nov. 11, 2011, a doctor, Conrad Murray, is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death for having administered a deadly dose of the anesthetic propofol.

During the trial, the New York Times reports that Murray, who had been hired as Jackson's personal physician, "had stayed with Jackson at least six nights a week and was regularly asked — and sometimes begged — by the insomniac singer to give him drugs powerful enough to put him to sleep."

2013-2014: Wade Robson and James Safechuck file suits against the Jackson estate and his companies

The Daily Beast reports in 2013 that after very publicly and repeatedly defending Jackson, Robson now says that Jackson sexually molested him for seven years.

Two years later, in May 2015, a judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Mitchell L. Beckloff, dismisses Robson's suit against the estate, saying that he waited too long to file his claim. In December 2017, the same judge dismisses the rest of Robson's suit, filed against Jackson's two companies, MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, because the two corporations could not be found liable for Jackson's alleged behavior. Notably, neither of these judgments address the credibility of Robson's accusations.

James Safechuck files a similar suit against MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures in 2014, alleging that Jackson abused him on "hundreds" of occasions between 1988 and 1992. Beckloff, who is also the presiding judge in this suit, rejects Safechuck's suit in June 2017 on the same grounds he gave Robson.

Movie Interviews

'neverland' director on investigating 'what happened once the bedroom door closed', march 3, 2019: leaving neverland begins airing on hbo.

After debuting at Sundance in late January, the two-part, four-hour documentary begins airing. Jackson's estate has already filed suit against the network, claiming that damages could exceed $100 million. Its petition begins: "Michael Jackson is innocent. Period."

The estate also argues that HBO has violated a non-disparagement agreement that it made with the singer in order to air a concert special, Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour , back in 1992. (That program was a megahit when it aired, scoring HBO its highest-rated special ever at that time.) In a bid for positive counter-programming, Jackson's estate releases the 1992 film on YouTube at the same time as Leaving Neverland 's broadcast premiere.

"In producing this fictional work," the suit continues, "HBO ignored its contractual obligations to Michael and his companies by disparaging both him and the Dangerous World Tour that HBO had previously profited from immensely." The estate also calls Robson and Safechuck "two admitted perjurers," and accuses them of "practicing their stories and rehearsing their lines ... for years now."

In an interview on All Things Considered , filmmaker Dan Reed says that two different threads drew him to telling the two men's stories.

"It's the complexity that drew me into wanting to really tell the story," Reed says, "which is that in an abusive pedophile relationship there is both love, affection, mentoring, friendship, caring — and there is sexual abuse. Those two things coexist."

March 14, 2019: Louis Vuitton backs off its Michael Jackson-inspired designs

Less than two weeks after Leaving Neverland airs on HBO, the luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton seeks distance from the late pop icon, whose signature looks had helped inspire much of its fall 2019 menswear collection.

The company had showcased the collection at a show on Jan. 17, or just over a week before the documentary was screened publicly for the first time at the Sundance Film Festival. In a statement shared exclusively with WWD , the company's top executives said they were unaware of the documentary — and its "deeply troubling and disturbing" allegations — at the time of their own show.

"I am aware that in light of this documentary the show has caused emotional reactions," Virgil Abloh, the artistic director of menswear at the company, said in the statement. "I strictly condemn any form of child abuse, violence or infringement against any human rights."

The company also told WWD that it would not produce anything that "directly features Michael Jackson elements," and that its final collection will "purely reflect the true values of the brand and of our artistic director."

Additional reporting by NPR's Elizabeth Blair and Colin Dwyer .

Correction March 8, 2019

This article originally misidentified James Safechuck as one of those who testified in Michael Jackson's defense during his 2005 trial — he did not. We have also clarified that Safechuck claims to have lied in a statement given in the 1993 investigation, while Wade Robson claims to have lied during his testimony in the 2005 trial.

• Michael Jackson

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