Michael Jackson impersonator Santana Jackson went viral over the weekend after a video of him fighting a drunk man on Las Vegas’s Freemont Street went viral.
Ironically enough, the camera zooms in on the drunk man’s t-shirt, which reads “Can’t fix stupid.”
Some might be asking where Jackson got his moves from. It turns out, Santana is a professional wrestler outside of his gig as an MJ impersonator.
After the clip went viral, Santana shared his side of the story on his Instagram. He told people that he made sure to restrain the man and not hurt him. “That’s why I train I’m not trying to hurt this guy just trying to restrain him from swinging at me,” he captioned the post. “So I was performing and this guy came out of nowhere and started hitting me so I have to put him down for his own good. Please know I don’t think fighting is the answer so try to avoid a fight if u can. Stay safe.”
TMZ spoke to Santana and he reiterated that he did not be violent to the man, but the man kept pushing the envelope, giving Santana no choice but to put his hands on it. “I was doing a song, I’m dancing to ‘Smooth Criminal,’ and then the guy walked over to me. I thought he was trying to give me a compliment or something, [but] he hits me in the face. Hit me right in my face.”
Santana added that the man continued to berate him even though at that moment he was not using any force against him. “I had my hands up,” he said, “I didn’t want to hurt the guy, I knew something was wrong with him.” Even after the man was put in a chokehold, he still wanted to fight Santana, but hit a police officer and was arrested.
