Michael Jackson Signed to His Pet Chimpanzee

Bubbles & Michael Jackson in 1986

By Bug

How many signed words did Michael Jackson know? How did he learn American Sign Language?  Nobody really knows. Fookem and Bug team found a rare footage from Jackson on a tour of Japan in 1987. This video shows that Jackson signed “SIT” to his monkey Bubbles.  He understood Jackson’s sign language. Michael Jackson almost wanted to sign “sit” to Bubbles at 0:27 but a chimp did not see it. Finally, Jackson signed to him at 0:36.  View this video of Jackson signing to Bubble. And they are doing the moonwalk:

For many years the baby chimp Bubbles was always beside Jackson until he grew up and became less cute and more unpredictable.  Jackson claimed that Bubbles had slugged him.  Also, he was afraid that Bubbles may attack Jackson’s newborn son, Prince Michael II. He gave his 11 year old chimp friend to a private zoo.The singer stated he regretted having to remove the chimp, as they can live to 60 years old.

How did Michael Jackson meet Bubbles?  In 1985 Jackson rescused him from a cancer-research lab in Texas.  He adopted three year old baby chimp as his pet and friend.  Bubbles lived at Jackson’s Encino home, but moved to Neverland Ranch in 1988. He slept in a crib in Jackson’s bedroom. He was allowed to use Jackson’s private toliet. His chimp sometimes wore a diaper.

Bubbles was taught how to moonwalk and he famously made a cameo in the video for “Liberian Girl” and accompanied Jackson during the recording sessions for Bad.  “Liberian Girl” was not one of Jackson’s bigger hit but was still the ninth and final single from the bad album. See Bubbles in this video at 2:08 – 2:14 but no closed captions or subtitles:

Bubbles and his little Bubbles

The sad news of Michael’s death made many people thinking of Bubbles. The news of his death still doesn’t seem entierly real, and there are still a lot of questions that remain unanswered. Good news is that Bubbles is still alive and enjoying his life at a ranch in Sylmar, California.

At last does Bubbles know his beloved friend Michael Jackson’s death? It is possible because the animals can sense the death of someone they are loyal too.

Bubbles’ life saved by Michael Jackson. He is probably the luckiest chimp. Over years Jackson out to animals for their unconditional love and non-judgmental companionship, he often gave back to them in return. Bless Michael Jackson.