Despite Jackson’s dissatisfaction, Daniel emphasized that the performance was a crowd-pleaser. “Bro, whatever you did out there, you killed the audience,” he assured Jackson.
Michael Jackson’s iconic moonwalk debut during the 1983 ‘Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever’ special didn’t go as planned, according to Shalamar star Jeffrey Daniel.
Daniel, who taught Jackson the signature move in 1980, recalled the moment during an interview with ContactMusic. “When the performance was over, I went over to him and said, ‘Wow, Michael, you did it.’ He said, ‘Yeah, but it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to.'”
Despite Jackson’s dissatisfaction, Daniel emphasized that the performance was a crowd-pleaser. “Bro, whatever you did out there, you killed the audience,” he assured Jackson.
The moonwalk, which became synonymous with Jackson’s legendary career, stunned the audience. Daniel noted that even his peers were surprised, adding: “When Michael did that backslide for the first time, the audience jumped up. But the people who I knew looked at me because it was like, ‘Michael’s doing your thing.'”
