Russell Crowe was already one of Hollywood’s most recognizable actors when something bizarre started happening in his hotel rooms. His phone would ring and a stranger would sometimes use a serious voice to warn him about an emergency. Then the caller would drop the act. According to Crowe, the man repeatedly doing this was none other than Michael Jackson.
The strangest part was that Crowe said they had never even met. Michael had somehow learned the alias Crowe used when checking into hotels and kept finding him for roughly two or three years. One recurring joke involved asking for members of the fictional “Wall” family before delivering an intentionally childish punchline.
Russell Crowe on Michael Jackson’s Prank Calls to Him | The Graham Norton Show
Years later, Crowe told the story on The Graham Norton Show, giving viewers the chance to hear just how strange the situation was from the actor himself. Michael did not simply call once. Crowe described calls following him from hotel to hotel while Michael changed his voice and played jokes that sounded more like something between childhood friends.
That makes another celebrity phone story especially interesting. Basketball legend Magic Johnson has recalled Michael personally calling him about appearing in the Remember the Time short film. Johnson initially thought someone was playing a prank and hung up before discovering that the unlikely voice on the other end really did belong to Michael Jackson.
Magic Johnson on How ‘Prank Calls’ From Michael Jackson Led to Remember the Time
Johnson’s story was not another years-long prank like Crowe’s, but it shows why Michael’s unexpected calls could be so surreal. Few people expected one of the world’s biggest entertainers to simply telephone them himself. In Johnson’s case, that unbelievable call eventually led to his appearance alongside Michael in the elaborate 1992 Remember the Time short film.
Behind the record-breaking albums, enormous tours and carefully controlled public image, Michael Jackson apparently still enjoyed remarkably simple jokes. Russell Crowe’s story reveals a mischievous side of the King of Pop that audiences rarely saw onstage. Watch Crowe tell the bizarre story himself above and see why Michael’s mysterious hotel calls stayed with him for years.