14 DAY TRIAL // Following intense protests from fans and a scathing letter from the Estate, Discovery has canceled a documentary reenacting Michael Jackson’s autopsy, initially scheduled to air in mid-January.
As we also reported at the beginning of December, Discovery announced it would air the documentary in the UK, made possible thanks to an “anatomically correct synthetic cadaver,” witness testimonies and court documents.
Upon hearing this, fans were outraged, immediately rallying up to protest the decision, saying the only reason the documentary had been made was to further exploit the late King of Pop.
At the end of last month, the Estate also took a stand, firing off a scathing letter to the network and pleading with it to cancel the show. It seems these efforts have not been in vain, as TMZ reports.
In a statement for the e-zine, the network says it’s decided to postpone indefinitely the show because of “legal proceedings” and at the request of the Estate, which blasted it saying the documentary was in “shockingly bad taste.”
“Given the commencement of legal proceedings beginning next week, and at the request of Michael Jackson’s estate, the scheduled broadcast of the medical documentary related to Michael Jackson’s official autopsy has been postponed indefinitely,” Discovery Channel says.
The Estate is obviously pleased with the latest development, but it takes no credit for it, saying it wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the fans, who made it a point of making themselves heard on all channels available to them.
“The co-executors of the Estate of Michael Jackson are pleased that Discovery Channel made the correct decision in choosing to cancel this exploitative program,” a rep for John Branca and John McClain, the Estate’s executors, says in a statement for the same media outlet.
“While Discovery cited legal proceedings and our request as the reasons for its decision, none of this would have happened had it not been for the incredible passion displayed by countless Michael Jackson fans worldwide who knew they stood as one and that their voices could not be ignored,” the same statement reads.
The executors also express their hope that the show will never see the light of day, which is most certainly what fans are also hoping for.