The Los Angeles Lakers are no longer playing a Michael Jackson song as part of their in-game entertainment, seemingly as a response to the “Leaving Neverland” documentary.
ESPN Lakers reporter Dave McMenamin tweeted on Saturday night that the Lakers had replaced Jackson’s hit song “Beat It” with tunes from Nirvana and Chuck Berry as they run their “Air Band Cam” bit during games. McMenamin says the change coincides with the release of the documentary.
The Lakers’ Air Band Cam getting fans to imitate Lance Stephenson’s air guitar featured Micheal Jackson’s “Beat It” as the musician accompaniment most of the season. Since “Leaving Neverland” aired, they’ve switched to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” and Nirvana pic.twitter.com/AlLxXOoNtZ
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 10, 2019
The Lakers have played three home games since “Leaving Neverland” aired on HBO.
The two-part documentary shares the story of two men who say they were molested by Jackson throughout their childhoods. The documentary provides a chronicled look at how the men and their families were deceived by the pop star.
Since the documentary has aired, sales and streams of Jackson’s music has declined, some radio stations have stopped playing his music, and “The Simpsons” removed an episode that included Jackson’s voice.
