A closer look
Michael Jackson secretly guest-starred in an early episode of The Simpsons as a mental patient who thinks he is Michael Jackson, but his contract stipulated he could only provide the speaking voice while an impersonator had to sing the actual songs. Fox executives allowed the undisputed King of Pop to voluntarily go into a recording booth to voice a cartoon character, but strict record label disputes meant he refused to let the animation studio broadcast his real singing voice. Simpsons viewers spent years aggressively debating whether it was actually him, blissfully unaware of the incredibly convoluted corporate red tape required to broadcast a three-minute cartoon birthday song. Hollywood ego flexing reached its absolute zenith here, showing the absurd lengths celebrities will go to participate in popular culture while simultaneously dodging legal liabilities
