Kenny Ortega had a long history of working with late pop icon Michael Jackson. When he appeared on the chickens in the Office podcast, he remembered a lesson that The King of Pop taught him before his death.
“He would always start by saying, ‘Kenny, we can’t let fear into space. Fear only gets in the way of creativity. We can’t let fear into space,’ that High School Musical Director shared. “And he was aware of it. He looked after that.”
For example, Michael Jacksons This is it Filmmaker remembered that Billie Jean Singer would stop rehearsals while touring if he discovered an executive or accountant in the audience. “He didn’t want the money people in the room should go, ‘You haven’t. We can’t afford it. We can’t.'”
The choreographer continued, “At the end of the day, you know, we had to balance a budget. He didn’t really like to do it much, but he was a creative genius and he just didn’t want anything in the room.”
Kenny collaborated on several late musician -trips, including Dangerous World Tour, History World Tour, and Michael Jackson & Friends.
On June 25, 2009, Michael died of a cardiac arrest, due to an overdose of propofol.
