The song “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson was released on January 3, 1983, and quickly hit number one, where it stayed for seven weeks.
The president of CBS Records, Walter Yetnikoff, threatened MTV by saying, “I’m pulling everything we have off the air, all our product. I’m not going to give you any more videos.”
The music video for “Billie Jean” was finally aired on MTV on March 10, more than two months after the song was released and after it had hit number one.
Michael Jackson’s performance of “Billie Jean” at “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever” in 1983, where he debuted the moonwalk, was named one of the most important pop culture moments in history by “Entertainment Weekly” in 2005.