--- title: Russell Crowe: Michael Jackson Used to Prank Call Me description: Is your refrigerator running? canonical: https://time.com/3765311/russell-crowe-michael-jackson-pranks/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-31T16:01:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:32.057Z og:title: Russell Crowe Says Michael Jackson Used To Prank Call Him og:description: Is your refrigerator running? og:url: https://time.com/3765311/russell-crowe-michael-jackson-pranks/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt384815ed62266f0a/6987860406f2c14b3f334af1/459818808.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2052 og:image:height: 1154 og:image:alt: "The Water Diviner" World Premier - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russell Crowe Says Michael Jackson Used To Prank Call Him twitter:description: Is your refrigerator running? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt384815ed62266f0a/6987860406f2c14b3f334af1/459818808.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Russell Crowe Says Michael Jackson Used to Play Weird Pranks on Him > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: How Michael Jackson Still Earns Millions After His Death [Watch (HLS stream): How Michael Jackson Still Earns Millions After His Death](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zl5thZgq.m3u8) (0:58)  _Published 2017-10-30. MONEY VIDEO_ by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Mar 31, 2015 4:01 PM UTC  Russell Crowe arrives at the World Premier of "The Water Diviner" Russell Crowe arrives at the World Premier of "The Water Diviner"Don Arnold—WireImage by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Mar 31, 2015 4:01 PM UTC Russell Crowe — a man who once threw a phone at a hotel concierge for [showing too much “attitude”](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1070328,00.html) — is not a person most people would want to prank. But according to a story Crowe told the [_The_ _Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/29/the-trials-of-russell-crowe-pranked-by-jacko-goaded-by-paparazzi-threatened-by-al-qaida), there was one man who dared to play practical jokes on the gruff Australian star: Michael Jackson. “For two or three f—ing years,” Crowe said. “I never met him, never shook his hand, but he found out the name I stayed in hotels under, so it didn’t matter where I was, he’d ring up do this kind of thing, like you did when you were 10, you know. ‘Is Mr Wall there? Is Mrs Wall there? Are there any Walls there? Then what’s holding the roof up? Ha ha.’ You’re supposed to grow out of doing that, right?” Of course the story can’t be confirmed by Jackson, but the image of the pop icon prank calling Crowe is so perfect, we certainly hope it’s true. \[[_Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/29/the-trials-of-russell-crowe-pranked-by-jacko-goaded-by-paparazzi-threatened-by-al-qaida)\] ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3765311/russell-crowe-michael-jackson-pranks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3765311/russell-crowe-michael-jackson-pranks/"},"headline":"Russell Crowe Says Michael Jackson Used to Play Weird Pranks on Him","datePublished":"2015-03-31T16:01:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:32.057Z","description":"Is your refrigerator running?","url":"https://time.com/3765311/russell-crowe-michael-jackson-pranks/","keywords":["Newsfeed","entertainment","michael jackson","Russell Crowe"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt384815ed62266f0a/6987860406f2c14b3f334af1/459818808.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt384815ed62266f0a/6987860406f2c14b3f334af1/459818808.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"The Water Diviner\" World Premier - Arrivals","caption":"\"The Water Diviner\" World Premier - Arrivals","creditText":"Don Arnold—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3765311/russell-crowe-michael-jackson-pranks/","name":"Russell Crowe Says Michael Jackson Used to Play Weird Pranks on Him"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Michael Jackson Still Earns Millions After His Death","description":"MONEY VIDEO","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zl5thZgq/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-10-30T19:40:11.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zl5thZgq.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3765311/russell-crowe-michael-jackson-pranks/","duration":"PT58S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3765311/russell-crowe-michael-jackson-pranks/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```