In October, Glen Cannon Jr. achieved a feat most content creators dream about: Earning over 100 million likes for a TikTok livestream. Only a handful of other TikTokers can say they've done the same.
What's even crazier is that the performer known online as Looze Cannon only began livestreaming on the app the previous month, and he doesn't even appear as himself – he appears as Michael Jackson.
Over many weeks, Cannon developed an AI face filter to make him look, on video, exactly like the late King of Pop. He pairs that with a good costume, a wig and a decent imitation of Jackson's voice. But his impersonation also comes together because of his own comedic sensibilities and innate talent at freestyle rapping as Jackson, dropping bars that he imagines
Jackson would say. His act is epitomized by his viral hit song, "Big Michael Michael," which has generated millions of spin-off videos and reposts, some shared by the likes of Snoop Dogg, Lil Baby, Justin Bieber and former NFL star Cam Newton.
It's a futuristic form of content that's got people calling him the "King of TikTok," and recognizing him as a talent even Jackson might have gawked at. His livestreams are even provocative enough to have drawn the ire of another Michael Jackson impersonator who views him as a fraud.
Cannon, 30, who lives in Detroit, tells USA TODAY in an exclusive interview that he's now earning thousands of dollars each time he presses the live button, from fan "gifts" through the app. But he doesn't like to talk about numbers. "I'm very humble, but when I look at that, and hear people say, 'Oh man, when Looze go live, you might as well cut yours off' … That there itself is a wild feeling."
They call him 'Big Michael Michael'
The first time Cannon went live on TikTok, he asked God for guidance. "I stared at the live button for like five minutes," he says with a laugh. "I had the Michael Jackson filter already ready and things like that. And I did that because I knew that everyone knows that face, you know, everyone knows Mike ... I knew it would be a shock value to see a filter in this capacity."
In his livestreams, he appears as Jackson with the filter on, inviting fans to join him virtually, one at a time, in what are called "battles." He chats with them, and at various points improvises or freestyle raps as Jackson. In one TikTok clip, he's reading a magazine with Prince on the cover. "I don't like this magazine," he says, a nod to their rivalry.
"As soon as I see his face, it's like I just go into that blackout mode where it's like I really channel my inner King of Pop," he says. The livestreams have helped him earn more than 1 million followers each on TikTok and Instagram.
He's part of a growing genre of filter comedy – online performers can embody celebrities, or make up their own characters using the plethora of face filters at their disposal on TikTok and Snapchat. No makeup team is required.
During an October livestream, Cannon produced the catchy song he's most famous for, with the hook, "They call me big, big, big, big Michael, Michael." And later, on Oct. 23, in the livestream that achieved over 100 million likes, he celebrated with a rap battle between Michael Jackson and himself, seamlessly switching voices and personas, as more than 70,000 people watched.
"I knew when I revealed my face in that freestyle that it would change everything," he says, "where people would actually respect Looze Cannon, the artist, you know, versus Looze Cannon, the content creator."
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 When MJ hit over 100 million likes and 1 million followers he dropped a crazy rhyme… featuring @loozecannon1 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 this man is on a GENERATIONAL run!!! pic.twitter.com/H9SRzml7vM
— brokage (@1st_bro_ka_ge) October 23, 2026
Cannon's love for Michael Jackson goes way back
Growing up in Motown, Cannon's dad owned a record label, and Cannon remembers recording music in his studio when he was four years old.
His mom sang on the variety show "Soul Train" in the '70s with her trio Body, and was even a background singer for Jermaine Jackson, Michael's brother. Cannon says he knows Stevie Wonder, who got him a job as a tour guide at the Motown Museum when Cannon was still a teenager.
Cannon's been a Jackson fan ever since he heard his albums "Dangerous" and "Bad," he says, and "I always knew that I could imitate the sound of his voice." He also remembers seeing his older cousin Clay impersonate the King of Pop at a talent show when he was young. "It made me really say, oh, yeah, I want to be on stage. I want to perform."
When he was a kid, he says, his mom was running production for a Detroit show by the boy band B2K, and when they were late, he was spontaneously asked to open for them by rapping when they were late. "Being on stage is like being in the comfort of my own house," Cannon adds.
Nowadays, he's a DJ and a producer for artists in Detroit. He began livestreaming in 2022 on the website BIGO Live, where he would perform as an older-gentleman rapper character called "Uncle Looze," in a fake beard and a wig.
When he "stagnated" on BIGO recently, he started working on the Jackson face filter, using AI and After Effects. What else did he do to create it?
"That's one thing that I'm always going to keep a secret," he says.
Rival impersonator Fabio Jackson is watching
While Cannon’s impersonation is beloved, AI imitations of celebrities have sparked legal battles before. In 2024, Scarlett Johansson accused OpenAI of cloning her voice for its ChatGPT assistant; OpenAI pulled the voice. That same year, George Carlin’s estate sued a podcast over an AI-voiced comedy special and won a settlement forcing its removal.
Cannon says he hasn't heard from Jackson's estate, but he has attracted a rival: Fabio Jackson, an MJ lookalike with over 12 million followers on TikTok. Cannon jokes about him frequently on livestream, saying in one recent video: "We love Fabio. I know he hates my guts, 'cause here's the thing that we both have in common. We both not Michael Jackson!"
The feud has spiraled out from online to real life: Fabio Jackson and his wife, Ana Lyrio, say that one of Cannon's moderators has harassed the family and they have filed a restraining order. Cannon says he doesn't know the woman.
Fabio also argues that Cannon's use of AI is "cheating." Cannon's take? "What's doing with his nose is cheating," he says, referring to Fabio's rhinoplasty procedure.
Cannon thinks that his comedy and freestyling show a different, maybe more authentic version of Michael Jackson, one that's not just about physical resemblance.
Cannon mentions Jackson's relationships with comedy greats like Eddie Murphy, and notes that "a lot of people, you know, heard stories about Mike being funny. They just never really seen it … I think that's what brings people close to this content is because they hear the stories and it feels like they're actually in that room now to see what Mike would have said or how he would be when the cameras are not on."
So what would Jackson think about his videos?
"I think that he would really love it," Cannon says. "I think that if he was still alive, he would jump into the queue and say, 'Hey, can you do this song?'"
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: He transformed himself into Michael Jackson. TikTok went wild
