A TV re-enactment of Michael Jackson's autopsy has been shelved after the late superstar's estate executors urged network bosses to axe the macabre and controversial special. Discovery Channel chiefs have canceled plans to air the program, "Michael Jackson's Autopsy: What Really Killed Michael Jackson".
A statement from the network reads, "Given the commencement of legal proceedings beginning next week, and at the request of Michael Jackson's estate, the scheduled broadcast of the medical documentary related to Michael Jackson's official autopsy has been postponed indefinitely."
The TV special was a fictional account of Jackson's autopsy, and print ads promoting it, which started running late last month, outraged the late star's estate. Co-executors John Branca and John McClain fired of a letter to Discovery boss David Zaslav last week, urging him to pull the program out of decency. They accused the network's bosses of operating in "shockingly bad taste." A statement from the network reads, "Given the commencement of legal proceedings beginning next week, and at the request of Michael Jackson's estate, the scheduled broadcast of the medical documentary related to Michael Jackson's official autopsy has been postponed indefinitely."
Branca and McClain added, "We were especially outraged when a sickening print advertisement for the program appeared making light of Michael's death by depicting a corpse sprawled on a steel gurney covered by a sheet with a hand sticking out wearing Michael's signature sequined glove.... The ad is debased, sick and insensitive."
They concluded the letter with, "On behalf of Michael's family, fans, common sense and decency, we urge you to reconsider and cancel this program." Jackson fans also showed their outrage by signing an online petition launched in December.