Michael Jackson Estate Declares Sexyy Red’s “Beat It” Flip Is Totally “Unauthorized” [Video]

Sexyy Red’s viral “Just Eat It” moment just hit a major wall after Michael Jackson’s estate publicly shut it down.

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The controversy picked up steam this week after a studio clip surfaced showing the St. Louis rapper flipping Jackson’s 1982 hit “Beat It” into an explicit remix. However, the response from the King of Pop’s camp was swift. In a statement to Billboard on February 12, a spokesperson for the estate said, “We were totally unaware of this. The use of the music is unauthorized.”

That statement makes one thing clear. There is no clearance.

The viral moment started when Lil Yachty shared footage of Sexyy Red recording the remix on February 10. In the clip, she raps, “Just eat it, just eat it/ You better not nut fast because I hate a minute man/ And if that d**k is trash, I’m telling all my friends/ I’ll beat your a** and we bout to throw them hands.” The post spread quickly, especially after Yachty joked that the track might land on the upcoming Michael biopic soundtrack.

Sexyy Red added fuel to the fire when she posted her own version of the clip a day later. “Leaked footage from da Michael Jackson movie HOOCHIE TRIBUTE TO DA BEST LLMJ,” she wrote, leaning into the chaos.

“Beat It” originally appeared on “Thriller” in 1982 and topped the Billboard Hot 100. While Sexyy Red has shown love to Jackson before, this remix proves that honoring a legend and sampling a legend are two very different conversations.