Did you know… When Michael Jackson’s newest music video, “In The Closet,” debuted on April 23, 1992, every Fox TV affiliate in the nation decided to air it at the same time, except one: WSYT-TV Syracuse.
The decision stemmed from backlash from another Michael Jackson video showed on Fox six months prior.
“Black or White,” its first first single, received heavy airplay on radio stations 93Q and Z89 and its $4 million video debuted on Fox at 8:25 p.m. immediately after a new episode of “The Simpsons.”
The ratings for the network that night were the highest in its history, but Jackson’s “crotch-grabbing and window-smashing music video,” as The Associated Press called it, received backlash from some viewers.
WSYT received a dozen complaint calls from Syracuse-area viewers.
“Most of them were parents who were looking at it and were embarrassed for their children,” said the station’s general manager and vice president Gary Dreispul.
Fast forward to April 23, 1992.
The six-and-a-half-minute video showed Michael “dancing seductively” with supermodel/actress Naomi Campbell. Fearing that another firestorm was likely, Syracuse’s affiliate decided not to play it.
“I’m very uncomfortable being the censor,” Dreispul said. “But we’re an over-the-air mass medium, I have a responsibility.”
Instead of airing the sexually suggestive video, the station aired a six-minute promotional spot for the adult sitcom “Married…with Children,” known for its bawdy humor.
Local Michael Jackson fans would have to watch his new video on MTV and Black Entertainment Television.
