‘Dancing with the Stars’ Host Alfonso Ribeiro Moonwalked with Michael Jackson in This Forgotten Commercial

Long before he was one of the stars of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or the cohost of Dancing with the Stars, which airs its 20th anniversary celebration on November 11, 2025, at 8pm EST,  Alfonso Ribeiro was already getting attention for his dance moves. And in 1984, at age 13, the future actor and TV host broke through with a Pepsi ad when he showed off his moonwalking skills to Michael Jackson himself. The ad was a success that launched Ribeiro to fame — and led to a crazy urban legend that he had died in a breakdancing accident.

What happened in Alfonso Ribeiro’s commercial with Michael Jackson?

In the ad, part of the soda’s “Pepsi Generation” campaign, Ribeiro and a group of other tweens show off some pretty impressive, Jackson-inspired dance moves in the middle of the street. This eventually captures the attention of the actual Jacksons, including Michael, who are hanging out in a nearby shop. Ribeiro, clad in a single silver glove and “Thriller”-style red leather jacket, moonwalks directly into Michael, who then joins the group in some synchronized dance moves, all set to the Michael Jackson classic “Billie Jean” — with the lyrics changed to be about Pepsi instead of a mysterious woman, of course.

In a 2021 NPR interview, Ribeiro revealed that the producers of Tap Dance Kid, a Broadway production that he had been starring in at the time, were opposed to the commercial.

“‘Tap Dance Kid said ‘No, you cannot go to California to shoot this commercial,’ Ribeiro recalled. ‘They threatened to sue us. They had lawyers at the airport when we got there to board the plane, and my dad was like ‘Nope, we’re going!” Ribeiro said the Pepsi ad proved to be wildly popular, so much so that ‘within 48 hours of the first airing of the commercial, we were sold out for two months.'”

The attention Ribeiro got for the ad, as well as his dance moves on sitcom Silver Spoons, led him to release a 1985 book entitled Breakin’ and Poppin’ that taught breakdancing to kids.

An urban legend suggested Ribeiro had died on set in a breakdancing accident

The ad also made Ribeiro the subject of an urban legend that alleged he had died from a dance-related injury on set. A June 1984 AP article entitled “Broadway star not dead” noted “There is no truth to the rumor that a young Broadway star died of a snapped neck while doing a break-dancing scene in a soft-drink commercial with Michael Jackson. But that does not stop the rumor.” Pepsi representatives claimed to have received many calls about the rumor at the time, but could not pin down where it had started.

In a September 2025 interview with Parade, Ribeiro reflected back on the rumor, recalling, “So I’m doing Tap Dance Kid here on Broadway, and it was either a Saturday or a Wednesday, where it was, I came in for the matinee, and then went to dinner, and then going back to the theater. And as I was going back to the theater, somebody stops me on the street, grabs me. He’s like, ‘What are you doing alive?? You’re supposed to be dead!'”

Unsurprisingly, the young Ribeiro did not enjoy the encounter: “You’re like, ‘Holy cow, what is this person doing? They’re out of their minds. What’s going on here?’ And, you know, [I was] frightened beyond belief, right? Really shaken up by that. ‘What are you talking about?’ And it’s a different time. Where it’s like, now, you go on the internet, you can debunk it in two seconds.”

The same year as his Pepsi commercial, Ribeiro began appearing on the third season of Silver Spoons, replacing Jason Bateman. In 1990, he began his signature role as Carlton Banks, Will Smith‘s fussy rich cousin, on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He’s hosted numerous game shows, has been the host of America’s Funniest Home Videos since 2015, and has been hosting Dancing with the Stars since 2022 — after winning season 19 in 2014.