Alfonso Ribeiro Revisits Hilarious Memory from Michael Jackson Pepsi Commercial
Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images Reading Time: 3 minutes
Dancing With The Stars host Alfonso Ribeiro was quite the lucky kid. He was able to be in a commercial with Michael Jackson, but he’s not one to shake someone’s hand when it’s dirty. The TV host recently looked back at his experience with the King of Pop on The Jennifer Hudson Show.
Alfonso Ribeiro Details Funny Memory with Michael Jackson
During his guest appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show, Ribeiro reflected working with Jackson for his 1984 Pepsi commercial. The actor-comedian was 12 years old when he did the record-breaking promotional endorsement deal.
According to the DWTS host, there was a time when they had to perform at Lincoln Center, New York. Ahead of their show, Jackson went to the restroom, where he accidentally dropped one of his gloves in the toilet. Ribeiro recalled the singer-songwriter panicking and eventually resorting to the fastest way of picking up the hand cover — with his hands.
“Finally, he’s like, ‘Wait a minute.’ And then he reached in and took his glove out of the toilet. So I found out that his glove had gone into the toilet. Well, we had to go on stage, I was like, ‘I ain’t shaking his hand. No, we’re not doing that. Nope,'” he said.
Apparently, the singer didn’t have a spare glove at the time. So, even though the 12-year-old was star-struck, he couldn’t wrap around his head the thought of touching a toilet water-soaked glove.
A year after “Thriller” was released, Jackson secured a $5 million partnership with PepsiCo in November 1983. The endorsement deal later became the standard for every integrated marketing campaign to follow.
The Pepsi commercial undeniably became a game-changer in the marketing industry, pervasive that it has given rise to famous fables in history such as the accident that set Jackson’s hair on fire, resulting in his rumored first cosmetic surgery.
Ribeiro Missed out on Bringing His Kids Trick or Treating This Year
Elsewhere in the interview, Ribeiro shared how his family celebrated Halloween. As per the television host, he wasn’t able to go trick or treating alongside his kids this year, since Dancing With The Stars was streaming live at the time.
“The show was live, right? So there’s no chance for me to do that on actual Halloween but my wife, she went and she took the kids out,” he said.
For the fun occasion, Ribeiro’s 10 year old Alfonso “AJ” Lincoln dressed up baseball shortstop Derek Jeter. His 8 year old, Anders Reyn, wore a Pikachu costume, his 4 year old, Ava Sue, transformed into Rapunzel. Interestingly, his wife Angela chose to be a holy guacamole.
In the interview, Ribeiro also talked how his four-year-old daughter has the prestige of quickly changing her mind regarding her Halloween costume.
“She changed her mind literally before they walked out the door. But because we have like my daughter has every Disney princess dress, in a closet and she’d just be like, ‘You know what? I wanna be Anna. Nope, I want to be Rapunzel,’ and change it up and go on,” he said.
According to Ribeiro, his kids fortunately had a “great time” going through the neighborhood. By the time he got home from work, the whole family was already out of their costumes and sitting on the couch while watching the Dancing With The Stars episode replay.
