Musician Mac DeMarco paid tribute to the late Michael Jackson in his latest music video… by wearing an incredibly disturbing mask of Jackson’s face.
But he’s not the first to pretend to be MJ. Between his memorable chart-toppers and equally memorable voice, Jackson is a popular subject for impersonations: Before DeMarco came Adam Levine, Bruno Mars, Eddie Murphy, Justin Timberlake, and Russell Crowe—yes, Russell Crowe.
Adam Levine
The Maroon 5 frontman showed off his impersonation skills on an episode of The Tonight Show in a game of Wheel of Musical Impressions with Jimmy Fallon—including his impression of Jackson singing a non-Jackson song: the Sesame Street theme song.
Russell Crowe
Back in the day, Jackson used to prank call Crowe—and Crowe recreated one of those phone calls for TMZ back in April: At first, he put on an extra-gruff voice to represent Jackson’s prank voice, and then transitioned into the high-pitched voice the singer’s known for. Heh heh heh heh, Crowe said in Jackson’s voice, don’t worry Russell, it’s only Michael.
Justin Timberlake
It’s not too surprising to see Timberlake do a Jackson impression—he’s featured on 2014’s Love Never Felt So Good and gets Jackson comparisons all the time, after all. But it’s still a trip to see him and his best buddy Fallon get the giggles while riffing off each other parodying the singer. We have literally wasted America’s time, Timberlake says after a couple minutes. Not quite, JT. Not quite.
Bruno Mars
Mars wore a sparkly glove and all when he performed an especially gibberish-heavy—and somehow still faithful—version of Smooth Criminal on a 2012 episode of Saturday Night Live.
Eddie Murphy
Murphy incorporated Jackson into one of his older standup bits by calling out his perceived sensitivity and even putting on a bit of a show: Murphy sang some impressive bars of Jackson’s She’s Out of My Life, before, still in character, asking his brothers to stop teasing him.
