Sheryl Crow has revealed she once ate emu with Michael Jackson during a bizarre Thanksgiving dinner.
The country crooner admitted she and the late pop icon tried the ‘pink and slimy’ dish while she was his backing singer during his Bad tour in Australia in 1988.
The Grammy winner, 56, added that the pair had been expecting to dine on a traditional turkey for the festive occasion and said the emu tasted ‘horrendous’.
‘It was pink and slimy!’ Sheryl Crow has revealed she once ate emu with Michael Jackson for a Thanksgiving dinner in Australia
‘I had a great experience with him,’ she said during an appearance with fellow country singer Melissa Ethridge on The Project on Thursday.
‘I will tell you, when we went out on the road with him we went to Japan first and came to Australia and we were here seven weeks.
‘We had Thanksgiving here. We typically have turkey in America. We had emu. It was awful.’
Panellist Carrie Bickmore winced in horror and joked: ‘Wow. We don’t even eat that!’
Horrific: The country crooner admitted she and the late pop icon tried the dish while she was his backing singer during his Bad tour in Australia in 1988
Sheryl grimaced: ‘It was horrible. It is quite different to turkey. You could tell it was emu – it was pink and slimy and chewy.’
Laughing, she joked: ‘Can’t wait to come back!’
Sheryl has previously discussed her days working as Michael Jackson’s backing singer on his Bad tour from 1987 to 1989 when she was in her mid-20s, dubbing it the ‘happiest of times’.
‘I hadn’t released any records. I didn’t even own a passport when I landed the job. And there I was, travelling the world with the biggest pop star on the planet,’ she told The Mail On Sunday in 2014.
‘It was horrible’: She explained: ‘We had Thanksgiving here. We typically have turkey in America. We had emu. It was awful’
Iconic: Sheryl previously said working as Michael Jackson’s backing singer when she was in her mid-20s was the ‘happiest of times’. Pictured with Michael in 1988
‘Walking out in front of full stadiums every night was exhilarating enough. To be performing alongside Jackson was something else altogether.
‘Seeing him dance a few feet away from me was an other-worldly experience. It was the happiest of times.’
Sheryl appeared on The Project to promote her and her long-time friend Melissa’s tour called Make Rock Great Again.
Explaining the idea behind the name, Melissa said: ‘Sheryl and I were talking about we want to see more people play the guitar again.’
Pals: Sheryl appeared on The Project to promote her and her long-time friend Melissa Ethridge’s tour called Make Rock Great Again
‘Just get up and play the guitar. That sort of place. And for the last 10 or 20 years, the music has gone into that techno world and it’s music you kind of make in your bedroom. We’re all about getting on stage and entertaining and connecting.’
Asked if auto-tuning was an option for them in their career, Melissa added: ‘Never. We had to sing on key. That was kind of important to be a singer.’
Sheryl added sarcastically: ‘Soooo different back then!’
Picking up on her frustration, Waleed Aly teased: ‘Who are you having a dig at there?’
Pretending to zip her lips shut, a sheepish Sheryl shook her head and muttered cheekily: ‘No-one. Senator, I was not in the room at the time!’
Not impressed: Discussing the reason behind the tour name, Sheryl took a swipe at singers who autotune their tracks and said it was ‘sooo different’ when she started out in the music industry