The King of Pop was nearly excommunicated from the Jehovah's Witnesses for making the most famous video of all time.
Source: youtube.com
MTV And Showtime Helped Pay For It
An executive at Sony freaked out and rejected a $900,000 budget Jackson proposed for the video, and talked him down to $500,000. (An expensive video at the time would top out around $100,000.) To balance the budget, a behind the scenes documentary was sold to MTV for $250,000 and Showtime for $300,000.
Jackson Lived With His Parents When The Video Was Made
He was the best-selling pop star in the world, but was living with his folks in Encino, California. This is part of the reason why Landis and the producers rejected Jackson's offer to pay for the entire video out of his own pocket.
Jackson Was Almost Excommunicated For Making The Video
When the Jehovah’s Witnesses found out he was making a werewolf video, they threatened to excommunicate him because it violated their strict rules about occult imagery.