James Durbin feared setting his hair on fire …
American Idol contestant James Durbin made some post-performance comments last night that deeply upset the family of the deceased King of Pop.
Durbin performed the Elton John tune Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting, featuring flames of fire on the stage. Host Ryan Seacrest did a short Q&A when the rocker finished, asking him what he most feared during the song. Durban replied: “I have a lot of hairspray in my hair to keep it from jumping around, so much so, that the one thing I was worried about was having a ‘Pepsi Moment.'”
His comments made reference to the 1984 incident where Michael Jackson’s hair caught fire while filming a Pepsi commercial. MJ suffered severe scalp burns that ultimately triggered an addiction to prescription drugs that many believe led to his downward spiral.
A Jackson family spokesman told TMZ: “We were shocked to see this. It’s nothing to make light of and everybody should be focusing on who was responsible for Michael’s death.”
Papa Joe Jackson was reportedly upset that the Pepsi remark wasn’t edited out of the West Coast feed.
Durbin tweeted about the controversy: “For anyone talkin..I said Pepsi NOT MJ! I have no disrespect for Michael. I grew up singing his art. I guess you’ll take it how you want it…”
After giving it more thought, he added this additional comment: “Talkin about MJs passing is too soon. Making a reference to an incident 25 years ago..not too soon. The stab was at Pepsi..people.”
We’ve got the Durbin video – the remarks are at 3:30 on the slider. We’ve also got a link to the horrific Jackson fire footage below: