The truth about twister
As a fan for 40 years and sort of a Jackson amateur historian, I’ve found it funny and also annoying at times to see old tabloid rumors resurfacing, stories being hugely exaggerated and told incorrectly lately with the popularity of the movie.
The lack of media literacy is more evident than ever in the ai images and photos that I continuously see posted.
I don’t like the fact that living people who were close to him are being trolled and harassed about some of these old stories or that his children have to deal with all of it but I’m also happy that people are discovering Michael for the first time and that they’re passionate about protecting his legacy.
With that being said, I recently did a deep dive on the twister phenomenon. In all of my years of reading and watching everything possible related to MJ, I have never heard a story about the game Twister specifically. I caught an interview with Jackie who sort of dodged the question about twister and generalized his answer saying that Michael loved games, which we all knew.
I’m also in marketing and I’m always immediately suspicious of any brand names shown in films. They’re almost always part of a promo or product push of some kind.
In my digging I found out two things: Lionsgate purchased a division of hasbro in 2023. Hasbro makes twister and Lionsgate made the film. 2026 is also twisters 60th anniversary and there were plans for a huge advertising push and rerelease of new styles of the game.
There have been ai articles written saying that Michael wrote about twister in his journal. That is not true. There is no valid source with that info and any images are ai generated.
That being said, it is a harmless fabrication that is bringing people together and keeping Michaels memory alive.
It’s funny to see twister at his gravesite and being attached to memorials and celebrations of Michael. I wonder if he’s looking down and wonder what the heck it means when the game is sitting beside flowers and pictures of him.
Hasbro headquarters is in my hometown so I’m a fan of the brand and I think the whole thing is creative and interesting. I love that fans are celebrating him in any way and also spending time with one another. Even if Michael wasn’t an actual fan of the game, I think he would appreciate people getting in touch with their inner child and spending time with one another.