Celebrities meeting each other is always a wild tale. But when Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson met, sparks didn’t just fly, but the stars in the sky aligned. Who was responsible for this instrumental meeting? Famed actor Dawan Scott.
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It’s crazy that His Airness and the King of Pop hadn’t met earlier, considering that there were no bigger stars on the planet in the 1990s than those two. That’s the great thing about life: it took someone like Scott to bring these two glasses of stardust together.
Scott, who is best known for portraying the beloved character Harry in the classic film Harry and the Hendersons, spoke about bringing these two icons together during an interview with Mike Torchia. Like most Hollywood meetings, it took place on set.
“I’m on set meeting Jordan, and a grip walks by and says, ‘Michael Jackson’s over here on set doing something,’ and Michael Jordan goes, ‘I never met Michael Jackson.’ I go, in my naivety, ‘Do you want to meet him?’ Not knowing I was going to shut down two productions. Jordan looks me like, ‘Yeah buddy. Go ahead.'”
Scott mentioned how he smooth-talked his way past Jackson’s security because they recognized him as Harry. Funnily enough, the Beat It sensation recognized him for the same thing.
“I walk in there and he goes, ‘Harry! It’s Harry everybody!’ He was on one. I said, ‘Michael Jordan wants to meet you.’ ‘He wants to me meet?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ ‘Well, who is the bigger star?’ I swim with sharks and I do it quite well, but I stay in my lane,” he stated.
After a few moments of praising Jackson’s humbleness, Scott mentioned that the King of Pop was the one who sent out the official invite. “‘See if he’ll come meet me.’ S I go over to Jordan’s set and I said, ‘He said Come over.'” This move shut down production on both sets, which initially made MJ’s sponsors unhappy.
However, they would later be in line, preparing to meet Jackson just like Jordan and his crew were. What they didn’t realize was that this would lead to a tremendous collaboration between the two icons.
“As soon as we opened the sound stage door, Michael Jackson had a camera, he’s filming it all. We walk over, and we walk on the sound stage and he’s got more cameras, and I go, ‘Michael meet Michael.’ And that’s how the music video Jam came about. So Jordan, you still owe me a favor,” stated Scott.
The song Jam would become a big hit and featured MJ in the video. Not only that, it eventually ended up in Jordan’s famed Space Jam film alongside the Looney Tunes.
Michael Jackson once spoke about his collaboration with His Airness, calling him the greatest sports legend of all time. “We had to play one-on-one; it was so embarrassing. He never missed, that was the object, for him to teach me to play basketball and for me to teach him to dance.”
Dawan Scott has had a tremendous film and TV career. But this should be his greatest badge of honor. Getting to facilitate such a renowned encounter between two of the GOAT Michaels in human history might never be topped.
