Next time you boot up Plants vs. Zombies for iPhone, you may notice something is a little different. That’s because Popcap has opted to change the character Dancing Zombie, who bears a strong resemblance to deceased pop star Michael Jackson.
The zombie is a callback to the seminal musical video for “Thriller,” in which Jackson appears as a zombie. The game was released before Jackson’s death in June 2009, but the King of Pop’s estate still isn’t happy.
A PopCap representative told MTV Multiplayer, “The Estate of Michael Jackson objected to our use of the ‘dancing zombie’ in Plants vs. Zombies based on its view that the zombie too closely resembled Michael Jackson.”