When Michael Jackson’s HIStory album was first released in 1995, the Simon Wiesenthal Center was shocked to hear that some of the lyrics in the song, They Don’t Care About Us, contained words like: “Jew me, sue me, kick me, kike me....” The Center immediately protested these obviously antisemitic stereotypes that millions of people would be exposed to, directly to Michael Jackson and demanded that he and Sony Records remove the offensive lyrics from the album.
Michael responded by personally calling Rabbis Hier and Cooper and expressing his deep remorse and then following up with a letter* where he wrote, "Unfortunately, my choice of words may have unintentionally hurt the people I wanted to stand in solidarity with ... I intend to include in all albums that have not been shipped as of this date, the paragraphs above so that no one can listen to my music and misconstrue my intentions." True to his word, not only did he do that, but a week or so later, he went back into the studio, deleted the offensive lyrics, and re-recorded the song.
We all remember. My point still stands, which is intent SHOULD usurp impact. Esp given proper context, etc. Seems we have willfully lost this intelligence. Which is shameful, and the real thrust of Glenn/John's discussion.
When Michael Jackson’s HIStory album was first released in 1995, the Simon Wiesenthal Center was shocked to hear that some of the lyrics in the song, They Don’t Care About Us, contained words like: “Jew me, sue me, kick me, kike me....” The Center immediately protested these obviously antisemitic stereotypes that millions of people would be exposed to, directly to Michael Jackson and demanded that he and Sony Records remove the offensive lyrics from the album.
Michael responded by personally calling Rabbis Hier and Cooper and expressing his deep remorse and then following up with a letter* where he wrote, "Unfortunately, my choice of words may have unintentionally hurt the people I wanted to stand in solidarity with ... I intend to include in all albums that have not been shipped as of this date, the paragraphs above so that no one can listen to my music and misconstrue my intentions." True to his word, not only did he do that, but a week or so later, he went back into the studio, deleted the offensive lyrics, and re-recorded the song.
https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/jew-me-sue-me-kick-me.html
We all remember. My point still stands, which is intent SHOULD usurp impact. Esp given proper context, etc. Seems we have willfully lost this intelligence. Which is shameful, and the real thrust of Glenn/John's discussion.
Music CDs were removed because he used a slur.
You have no point.
There was even a problem getting radio play
https://2paragraphs.com/2014/12/how-sony-crushed-michael-jacksons-race-song-they-dont-care-about-us/