"They Don't Care About Us" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on April 8, 1996, in the UK, and April 23 in the US. It was the fourth single from Jackson's ninth album, HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995).
The initial release contained ethnic slurs, triggering accusations of antisemitism. Jackson issued an apology, saying the lyrics had been intended to draw attention to social injustice, and altered future copies.
Two music videos were directed by Spike Lee. The first was shot in Pelourinho, the historic city center of Salvador, and in Santa Marta, a favela of Rio de Janeiro.
Jackson performed "They Don't Care About Us" as part of a medley with "Scream" and "In the Closet" during his third and final concert series, the HIStory World Tour, which ran from 1996 to 1997. The song was set to be performed on Jackson's This Is It comeback concert series July 2009 to March 2010, but the shows were cancelled due to his death in June 2009. In 2011, the Immortal album included a remixed version of "They Don't Care About Us", with elements of the songs "Privacy" (from Invincible) and "Tabloid Junkie" (from HIStory).
The song gained renewed attention due to its use during Black Lives Matter protests in 2014 and 2015, and again in 2020 with Spike Lee's "Director's Cut" of the music videos being combined, along with new footage of attacks against protestors.
Music and composition
The song begins with a group of children singing the chorus, "All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us". In between the chorus lines, one child exclaims, "Don't worry what people say, we know the truth", after which another child shouts, "Enough is enough of this garbage!" It is played in the key of D minor and the track's time signature is common time.
Critical reception
Larry Flick from Billboard noted that the controversial lyrics were obscured by sound effects: "With or without those words, this song comes across as less an intended indictment of the world's oppressive forces and more as lightly shrouded ramblings of personal paranoia. There is nothing wrong with an artist pouring personal experience into a song, of course, but the range of emotion displayed in Jackson's snarling vocal would be far more affecting within a more direct lyrical context." A reviewer from Music Week rated "They Don't Care About Us" four out of five, adding, "With echoes of 'Bad', Jackson's next single from HIStory sees him in tougher mode, with some real raucous guitar backing his soaring vocals." The magazine's Alan Jones described it as "a slim, sylph-like tirade, economical and angry." He concluded, "The quality of the song is there however, and Jacko's on a roll. Number one?" Jim Farber of New York Daily News said that Jackson "snarled" while singing, that the song "clicked" and has an "original clattering rhythm".
Jon Pareles from The New York Times stated that Jackson was calling himself "a victim of police brutality" and a "victim of hate". He continued, "A listener might wonder just who 'Us' is supposed to be ... To make the songs lodge in the ear, Jackson uses elementary singsong melodies – a 'nyah, nyah' two-note motif in 'They Don't Care About Us' ... and he comes up with all kinds of surprises in the arrangements". The review of HIStory in The Washington Times noted of "They Don't Care About Us": "[it] follows fast, inviting more pathos – and more controversy. With haunting clapping and a police scanner in the background". The Sacramento Bee described it as a "looped reggae-lite dance beat".
Chart performance
"They Don't Care About Us" reached number four on the UK singles chart and stayed on the chart for three months. It reached the top ten of every European country, except in Spain, where it reached number 11 and remained in the chart for just one week. In Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Sweden, it reached the top five and stayed in each country's chart for at least 21 weeks.
Music videos
left|thumb|The cultural music group [[Olodum from the city of Salvador, with whom Jackson collaborated]]
Producing the first music video in February 1996 for "They Don't Care About Us" proved to be a difficult task for Jackson. State authorities unsuccessfully tried to ban Jackson filming in Salvador (Pelourinho) and in Rio de Janeiro. Officials in the state of Rio feared images of poverty might affect tourism and accused Jackson of exploiting the poor. Ronaldo Cezar Coelho, the state secretary for Industry, Commerce and Tourism, demanded editing rights over the finished product, stating, "I don't see why we should have to facilitate films that will contribute nothing to all our efforts to rehabilitate Rio's image". Some were concerned that scenes of poverty and human rights abuses would affect their chances of hosting the Olympics in 2004. Others supported Jackson's wish to highlight the problems of the region, arguing that the government were embarrassed by their own failings.
A judge banned all filming but this ruling was overturned by an injunction. Although officials were angry, the residents were not and Jackson was surrounded by crowds of enthusiastic onlookers during filming. One woman managed to push through security to hug Jackson who continued dancing while hugging her. Another woman appeared and hugged him from behind, which caused him to fall to the ground; police pulled the two women off him and escorted them back to the crowd. After the director helped Jackson get up off the street, he continued to sing and dance. This incident made it into the music video. 1,500 policemen and 50 residents acting as security guards effectively sealed off the Santa Marta favela. Some residents and officials found it offensive that Jackson's production team had negotiated with drug dealers in order to gain permission to film in one of the city's shantytowns.
The music video was directed by Spike Lee. Asked why he chose Lee to direct the video, Jackson responded, "'They Don't Care About Us' has an edge, and Spike Lee had approached me. It's a public awareness song and that's what he is all about. It's a protest kind of song ... and I think he was perfect for it". Speaking to William E. Ketchum III of Stereogum in 2025, Lee recounted that Jackson had contacted him prior to the release of HIStory, and asked him to pick one song from the record to direct a music video for. Lee initially selected "Stranger in Moscow", but Jackson encouraged him to direct the video for "They Don't Care About Us" instead. At the beginning of the video, a Brazilian woman says, "Michael, eles não ligam pra gente" (Portuguese for "Michael, they don't care about us"), recorded by Angélica Vieira, producer of Manhattan Connection.
thumb|220x220px|Precarious houses in the favela of [[Complexo do Alemão in Rio de Janeiro. Identical scenes are viewable in the first music video.|alt=]]
Speaking of the music video, in The New Brazilian Cinema, Lúcia Nagib observed:
In 2009, Billboard described the area as "now a model for social development" and claimed that Jackson's influence was partially responsible for this improvement.
As of April 2023, the music video has received over 1 billion views. It became Jackson's second music video (after "Billie Jean") to achieve this feat, making Jackson the first male solo artist from the 20th century to have two music videos achieve one billion views. As of October 2024, he has five videos that have surpassed the billion view mark, now that "Beat It", "Thriller" and "Smooth Criminal" have reached that status as well.
For the first time in his career, Jackson made a second music video for a single. This second version was filmed in a prison with cell mates; in the video Jackson is seen handcuffed. It also contains real footage of police attacking African Americans (including the beating of Rodney King), the military crackdown of the protests in the Tiananmen Square, the Ku Klux Klan, the assassination attempt of George Wallace, war crimes, genocide, execution, martial law, and other human rights abuses. This version is rarely to never played on television and has less than a tenth of the views of the Rio video on YouTube.
The first music video of the song appears on the box set Visionary: The Video Singles, as well as on the video albums HIStory on Film, Volume II and Vision; the latter additionally includes the prison version.
In 2020, Spike Lee put together a third music video that incorporates pieces of both the Brazil and prison versions along well with footage from Black Lives Matter protests taking place in various cities around the world at the time and an aerial view of Washington D.C.'s Black Lives Matter Plaza.
Live performances
"They Don't Care About Us" was only performed as part of the opening medley for the HIStory World Tour, along with "Scream" and "In the Closet". The segment for "They Don't Care About Us" began with a short, military-style dance sequence and contained an excerpt of "HIStory". A short unedited video clip released after Jackson's death of the June 23, 2009, rehearsal for the This Is It concert series shows Jackson performing the song as the main song in a medley with parts of "HIStory," as well as "Why You Wanna Trip On Me" and "She Drives Me Wild" from Dangerous. The song was later remixed and featured as part of Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour.
Accusations of antisemitism
On June 15, 1995, a day before the release of HIStory, The New York Times reported that "They Don't Care About Us" contained racist and antisemitic lyrics: "Jew me, sue me, everybody do me / Kick me, kike me, don't you black or white me." Jackson responded:
The following day, two leading members of the Jewish community said that Jackson's attempt to make a song critical of discrimination had backfired. They argued that the lyrics used were unsuitable for a teenage audience that might not understand the song's context and that the song was too ambiguous for some listeners to understand. They accepted that Jackson meant well and suggested that he write an explanation in the album booklet.
On June 17, Jackson issued an apology, and he promised that future copies of the album would include an apology. By this point, two million copies had already been shipped. The next day, in his review of HIStory, Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote, "In ... 'They Don't Care About Us', he gives the lie to his entire catalogue of brotherhood anthems with a burst of antisemitism." On June 21, Patrick Macdonald of The Seattle Times criticized Jackson: "He may have lived a sheltered life, but there really is no excuse for using terms like 'Jew me' and 'kike' in a pop song, unless you make it clear you are denouncing such terms, and do so in an artful way."
Two days later, Jackson announced that he would return to the studio and alter the lyrics on future copies. He reiterated his acceptance that the song was offensive to some. It was reported that "Jew me" and "Kike me" would be substituted with "do me" and "strike me". However, the words were instead obscured with loud, abstract noises. Later remixes instead use repeated words ("Jew me, sue me" being replaced with "Sue me, sue me").
An apology was included in later issues of the album:
Track listings
- Europe CD single
- "They Don't Care About Us" – 4:43
- "They Don't Care About Us" (Track Masters Remix) – 4:07
- "They Don't Care About Us" (Charles' Full Joint Remix) – 4:56
- "Beat It" (Moby's Sub Mix) – 6:11
- US CD single
- "They Don't Care About Us" – 4:43
- "They Don't Care About Us" (Charles' Full Joint Mix) – 4:56
- "They Don't Care About Us" (Dallas Main Mix) – 5:20
- "They Don't Care About Us" (Love to Infinity's Walk in the Park Radio Mix) – 4:46
- "They Don't Care About Us" (Love to Infinity's Classic Paradise Radio Mix) – 4:14
- "They Don't Care About Us" (Track Masters Radio Edit) – 3:41
- "Rock with You" (Frankie's Favorite Club Mix) – 7:45
- "Earth Song" (Hani's Club Experience) – 7:55
Personnel
- Michael Jackson – lead vocals, backing vocals, percussion, keyboards, synthesizers, producer, synthesizer programming, vocal arrangements, rhythm arrangements, string arrangements
- Los Angeles Children's Choir – backing vocals
- Trevor Rabin – guitar
- Slash – additional guitar
- Brad Buxer – percussion, keyboards, synthesizers, synthesizer programming
- Chuck Wild – keyboards, synthesizers, synthesizer programming
- Jeff Bova, Jason Miles – keyboards, synthesizers
- Bruce Swedien – recording engineer, mixing
- Eddie De Lena – assistant recording engineer, mixing
- Matt Forger, Rob Hoffman – assistant recording engineers
- Annette Sander – choral arrangements
- Olodum - percussion (only in the Brazilian version)
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+
!scope="col"|Chart (1996)
!scope="col"|Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Czech Republic (Rádio Top 100 Oficiální)
| 1
|-
!scope="row"|Denmark (Tracklisten)
| 3
|-
!scope="row"|Europe (European Hot 100)
| 2
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Hungary (MAHASZ)
| 20
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Italy (Musica e dischi)
| 1
|-
!scope="row"|Italy Airplay (Music & Media)
| 2
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Poland (Music & Media)
| 2
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Spain (AFYVE)
| 11
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Sweden (Swedish Dance Chart)
| 6
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Taiwan (IFPI)
| 2
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|UK Airplay (Music Week)
| 4
|-
!scope="row"|UK Club Chart (Music Week)
| 28
|-
!scope="row"|UK Pop Tip Club Chart (Music Week)
| 6
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|US Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales (Billboard)
| 19
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Germany (Media Control Charts)
| 12
|-
!scope="row"|Hot Canadian Digital Singles
| 47
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Greece International (IFPI)
| 30
|-
! scope="row"| Italy (FIMI)
| 92
|-
! scope="row"| Norway (IFPI Norge)
| 93
|-
!scope="row"|Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100)
| 49
|-
! scope="row"| Portugal (AFP)
| 128
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+
!scope="col"|Chart (1996)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
!scope="row"|Australia (ARIA)
| 71
|-
!scope="row"|Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)
| 3
|-
!scope="row"|Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)
| 40
|-
!scope="row"|Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)
| 21
|-
!scope="row"|Germany (Media Control)
| 7
|-
!scope="row"|Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)
| 26
|-
!scope="row"|Netherlands (Single Top 100)
| 44
|-
!scope="row"|Sweden (Topplistan)
| 14
|-
!scope="row"|Sweden (Swedish Dance Chart)
| 8
|-
!scope="row"|UK Singles (OCC)
| 52
|-
!scope="row"|US Hot R&B Singles (Billboard)
| 83
|}
Certifications
Release history
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+
!scope="col"|Region
!scope="col"|Date
!scope="col"|Format(s)
!scope="col"|Label(s)
!scope="col"|
|-
!scope="row"|United Kingdom
|April 8, 1996
|
|rowspan="2"|Epic
|align="center"|
|-
!scope="row"|United States
|April 23, 1996
|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope="row"|Japan
|May 29, 1996
|