“Weird Al” Talks Dropping Michael Jackson Parodies From Shows After HBO’s Leaving Neverland

Authored by pitchfork.com and submitted by Sumidiotdude

“Weird Al” Yankovic is currently on a symphony tour, and during his recent shows, he hasn’t been performing two staples of his usual live show: the Michael Jackson parodies “Eat It” and ”Fat.” In a new interview with Billboard’s Gary Graff, Yankovic explained that he decided to leave those songs out of the show in the aftermath of the two-part HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.

“I don’t know if that’s going to be permanent or not, but we just felt that with what’s happened recently with the HBO documentaries, we didn’t want anybody to feel uncomfortable,” Yankovic said. “I felt I had enough fan favorites in the show that I could get away with it. I haven’t gotten a lot of pushback. There have been some people who have expressed disappointment, but we decided to err on the side of not offending people.”

Across Leaving Neverland ’s four hours, Wade Robson and James Safechuck alleged that they were sexually abused by Jackson when they were children. The Jackson Estate sued HBO and called the film “unvetted propaganda.”

Following the film, producers of “The Simpsons” pulled a 1991 episode featuring Jackson from syndication and physical release. Louis Vuitton removed Jackson-themed clothing from a Virgil Abloh collection.

Read Pitchfork’s review of Yankovic’s complete discography.

Mulchpuppy on June 28th, 2019 at 15:06 UTC »

Saw him a few weeks ago on the Strings Attached tour. Didn't miss either one of those songs. He's got a massive song collection to pick from. If not doing "Fat" clears up space to do songs like "One More Minute" or "Jackson Park Express," then I'm all for it.

CritikillNick on June 28th, 2019 at 14:45 UTC »

Seeing him come out in a fat suit is one of my favorite concert moments but I understand his decision. He’s always been one to avoid inciting any type of conflict and this is the easiest solution since he’s got so many songs he can play instead

Brrrritos on June 28th, 2019 at 14:25 UTC »

I've always thought Weird Al seems like a solid guy.

He's also amazing live.