Michael Jackson autopsy special pulled by Discovery

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Michael Jackson can rest a little more peacefully -- a fictionalized reenactment of the pop singer’s autopsy, scheduled to run in January on Discovery Channel in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, has been yanked.

‘Given the commencement of legal proceedings beginning next week, and at the request of Michael Jackson’s estate, the scheduled broadcast of the medical documentary related to Michael Jackson’s official autopsy has been postponed indefinitely,’ Discovery Networks International said in a statement Friday.

‘Legal proceedings’ refers to the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson’s physician at the time of his June 25, 2009, death. Murray’s defense team plans to argue that Jackson killed himself with an overdose of propofol, a prosecutor said Wednesday after hearing the defense intended to focus on a second syringe found on the scene.

A print advertisement for the fictional, unauthorized program -- which wouldn’t be shown in the U.S. -- shows a body covered by a sheet, with one hand poking out wearing the singer’s well-known sequined glove. ‘Michael Jackson’s Autopsy: What Really Killed Michael Jackson,’ was to have aired on Jan. 13.

An online fan petition against the program was started in early December, and co-executors of Jackson’s estate contacted David Zaslov, president and chief exec of Discovery, in a letter Wednesday that called the ad ‘debased, sick, and insensitive.’

‘Your decision to even schedule this program is in shockingly bad taste, insensitive to Michael’s family and appears motivated solely by your blind desire to exploit Michael’s death, while cynically attempting to dupe the public into believing this show will have serious medical value,’ said the letter, posted by TMZ.

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-- Christie D’Zurilla

Reuters contributed to this report.