"Very on brand for Mrs. Metropolis" — Internet reacts to Janelle Monae recreating Michael Jackson's controversial balcony moment

Janelle Monae recently recreated King of Pop Michael Jackson's controversial baby stunt from the balcony of her hotel room presumably in Dusseldorf, Germany, where she's scheduled to perform on July 20, 21, and 23 as a part of her Music of the Spheres World Tour.

The R&B singer shared a now-deleted video on her Instagram on July 16 as she dangled a robot toy dog named Atomix from her hotel room balcony. The footage was later obtained by The Shade Room and shared online.

Janelle Monae dressed up like Michael Jackson in a video, wearing a black wig and red shirt, and covered the robot toy's head with a towel. The clip used audio from a 2002 incident in Berlin where Jackson held his infant son over a balcony. Fans reacted on social media, with some finding Monae's recreation funny and others worried that people didn't grasp the seriousness of Jackson's original moment.

"ICONIC!!! I think he’d have loved this tbh. 😭 He thought everyone made too big a deal out of the s**t anyway. Lol," one person wrote.

"She even dressed like him lololol and the haaair," another person said.

"Not with that robot dog from Black Mirror," one person added.

"Ok but likeeeee what’s the back story?! There has to be one?!" another person wondered.

Netizens further discussed why Janelle Monae decided to suddenly pull off the stunt.

"and just like that.. more people fall for the distraction celebrities provide for the empire," one person said.

"Her literally wearing red and having that hair pressed is soo… HAHA," another netizen commented.

"It’s wild to think that there is a whole generation who don’t get where this comes from lol," one user said.

"wait so was this on purpose what was all this for?" one netizen questioned.

Michael Jackson's controversial stunt with his 9-month-old son has been a topic of discussion for years in popular culture. The popstar was criticized for allegedly endangering the life of a child but later apologized for the same.

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Janelle Monae revealed how Michael Jackson inspired her to make music

2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture™ - Caesar's Superdome - Day 1 (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

During a 2015 appearance on Conan, Janelle Monae shared how the King of Pop inspired her music and had a strong influence on her. The R&B singer is frequently compared to MJ for their similar style and structure of music.

Janelle Monae mentioned that she realized her dream of making music after her aunt Gloria took her to an MJ concert when she was young. She said:

"According to my Aunt Gloria, it was apparent that making music was my dream after she took me to Michael Jackson’s Bad concert in my hometown Kansas City. The next morning I went to church and started beating on the back of a pew, tapping and singing Michael Jackson’s 'Beat It.' That moment gave me great joy and extra confidence."

Therefore, Janelle Monae recreating Jackson's viral moment was likely a way of paying respect to the legendary popstar and his influence on her.

Janelle Monae was not the only hip-hop artist to recreate Jackson's viral moment from 2002. In 2023, ASAP Rocky also recreated the moment as he held his 10-month-old baby son RZA outside a balcony in Paris. However, he held the child in a much safer way.

Rocky did not dress up like Michael, the way Janelle Monae did. He came out of the balcony wearing a black t-shirt and grey trousers while holding his son in his arms and did not dangle the child outside.

Shortly after the controversial stunt, Jackson opened up about the incident in the 2003 documentary Living With Jackson. The pop star said:

“That’s totally ignorant. I would never do that to my child or any child. Try to kill them? Come on. We were waving for thousands of fans down below and they were chanting that they want to see my child. I was kind enough to let them see. I was doing something out of innocence.”

After massive backlash from the public, the King of Pop also stated in 2002 via Entertainment Weekly explaining he was caught up in the moment and would never endanger the lives of children purposely.

“I offer no excuses for what happened. I got caught up in the excitement of the moment. I would never intentionally endanger the lives of my children.”

Jackson's controversial stunt still remains one of the most significant moments in pop culture history and is recreated multiple times.