NEW YORK -- Everyone loves to bully Michael Jackson. Add online animators to the list.
Intermix Media, a Los Angeles-based company behind mega-popular Web sites such as MySpace.com and Flowgo.com , is jabbing Jacko over at MadBlast.com , its outlet for mature humor and, well, total time suckage.
"We're creating a place for you to smile," counters Marco Ilardi, Intermix's senior vice president of business development.
In the latest lampoon, Jackson -- featuring his infamous mug shot face on a cartoon body -- does the "Sound of Music." Titled "MJ's Favorite Things," the short shows Jackson chasing children, including a "Home Alone"-era Macaulay Culkin, over a hill while singing to the tune of "My Favorite Things" about his affinity with "shopping for noses" and "lightening my skin tone."
Other online cartoons featuring Jackson include "MJ's Back in the ER Again" and "Michael Jackson -- Black or White?" Ilardi said despite the crude humor, there's never been a complaint about an MJ 'toon.
Jackson isn't the only star to get MadBlasted. Britney Spears' belly was recently revealed in "Britney is Pregnant!" In the animation, baby bodies topped with the faces of Kevin Federline, Justin Timberlake, Fred Durst and Spears' Chihuahua Bit Bit dance inside an ultrasound. Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Paris Hilton and Martha Stewart have their MadBlast animated moments, too.
"It's stuff that people are thinking but don't necessarily say," Ilardi says.
These seemingly amateur, just-for-fun animations are created by Intermix's full-time staff of 10 to 15 professional songwriters and animators for the company's ad-driven Web sites. The creative process takes anywhere from a week to a month. For every one giggle-worthy hit, Ilardi says, five are duds.
"We follow the trends and what people are talking about," Ilardi says. "Whatever people are interested in, we'll create more and more of that."
