The 2005 Michael Jackson molestation trial wasn’t just bad news for the King of Pop and his fans, it also created an awkward situation for Tonight Show host Jay Leno. You see, Leno had been subpoenaed to testify against Jackson’s accuser after the defense suggested that the boy’s mother sought money from Leno. Because of that, Leno was the subject of a gag order that prevented him from discussing the case. Before the trial began, Leno joked to his audience, “I’m going to tell the jury the same thing I’m telling you right now. I only rode that llama once. I didn’t know it was underage.”

But while Leno’s contemporaries were free to make as many Jackson jokes as they pleased at the time, Leno was forced to get creative in order to address the subject. One way around the gag order was to have other comedians, like Brad Garrett and Drew Carey, handle the Jackson material for him. During one broadcast, Garrett touched on the topic by saying: “They said this trial will probably last six months, although Michael Jackson asked for some time off to entertain the troops. OK, they’re Cub Scout troops, but they’re still troops.”

Jay Leno’s Wordless Joke About Michael Jackson

Leno even managed to slip in a Jackson joke without opening his mouth. For the March 10 edition of The Tonight Show, the comedian pretended to arrive late while sporting SpongeBob SquarePants pajamas. Earlier that same day, Jackson showed up to court in pajama bottoms; his lawyers said it was because he’d come straight from the hospital. By March 11, the judge ruled that Leno’s gag order wouldn’t prevent him from making jokes at Jackson’s expense moving forward. 

The late-night host was finally called in to testify in May of that year. According to Leno, the boy at the center of the trial left him many messages back in 2000, claiming that the TV icon was his hero. However, Leno recalled that the voicemails he received seemed a bit scripted, and he suspected that the family might’ve been looking for money. Furthermore, Leno clarified that the police reached out to him regarding the matter and not the other way around.

Michael Jackson was later found not guilty of all 10 charges against him.