{"id":3663,"date":"2026-05-27T15:12:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/michael-jackson-estate-co-executor-john-mcclain-dead-at-71\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:12:24","slug":"michael-jackson-estate-co-executor-john-mcclain-dead-at-71","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/michael-jackson-estate-co-executor-john-mcclain-dead-at-71\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jackson estate co-executor John McClain dead at 71"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F3%2F2026%2F05%2F128818018.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>We\u2019re told the veteran music executive had major health issues and was sick for a long time, with one source claiming he had cancer.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2026\/05\/26\/john-mcclain-michael-jackson-estate-co-executor-dead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to TMZ<\/a>, who was first to report the news, he died in Malibu, California.<\/p>\n<p>McClain and entertainment attorney John Branca were named co-executors of Jackson\u2019s estate following the King of Pop\u2019s death in July 2009.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Veteran music executive John McClain (pictured above in 1986) died Tuesday at the age of 71. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>McClain was a co-executor of Michael Jackson\u2019s estate. The King of Pop (seen here in 2005) died in 2009. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Jackson was in debt to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars when he died unexpectedly at the age of 50 from acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication. <\/p>\n<p>McClain and Branca were able to generate billions in revenue through music, licensing, film, theatrical productions and catalog exploitation.<\/p>\n<p>Specific projects and deals tied to the estate under McClain and Branca include the October 2009 concert documentary \u201cMichael Jackson\u2019s This Is It,\u201d the Michael Jackson: One by Cirque du Soleil permanent resident show in Las Vegas, which has been running since 2013, the 2014 posthumous album \u201cXscape\u201d and the recently released \u201cMichael\u201d biopic.<\/p>\n<p>McClain handled more of the creative side of things and was often praised for maintaining Jackson\u2019s artistic integrity posthumously, while Branca\u2019s focus has been on legal and transactional matters.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Page Six is told that McClain (third from left) had major health issues and was sick for a long time, with one source claiming he had cancer. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>McClain and entertainment attorney John Branca (pictured above in 2017) were named co-executors of Jackson\u2019s estate following his death. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, Jackson\u2019s family members \u2014 especially his daughter, Paris Jackson \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/03\/24\/celebrity-news\/paris-jacksons-legal-fight-gets-nasty-with-lawyers-trying-to-take-control-of-late-fathers-estate-sources\/\">have publicly challenged aspects of the executors\u2019 management and compensation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In July 2025, the 28-year-old sued McClain and Branca, 75, for unauthorized or poorly documented payments, including to themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Though the pair have consistently denied wrongdoing, Paris scored a legal win last week when a judge ordered $625,000 in bonus payments be returned to the estate.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Jackson\u2019s family members \u2014 especially his daughter, Paris Jackson (seen here in the center in 2008) \u2014 have publicly challenged aspects of the executors\u2019 management and compensation. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>In July 2025, Paris (pictured above with her aunt Janet Jackson) sued McClain and Branca for unauthorized or poorly documented payments, including to themselves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Not much is known about McClain\u2019s personal life, but he worked in A&amp;R for decades and had deep roots in black pop and R&amp;B development.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, he was closely associated with Jackson\u2019s sister Janet Jackson\u2019s breakthrough era and worked with artists like Ice Cube and Dr. Dre.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/05\/27\/entertainment\/michael-jackson-estate-co-executor-john-mcclain-dead-at-71\/\" target=\"_blank\">Source link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re told the veteran music executive had major health issues and was sick for a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/128818018.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}