Jewish Leaders Uneasy About Jackson Song

Michael Jackson says a new song of his that includes anti-Semitic slang is a cry against bigotry. Jewish leaders say they would like to believe him but fear the lyrics could be misunderstood.

“It’s the ambiguity that I’m afraid of when it reaches his 20 million buyers around the world,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.

“The words are hateful and hurtful, and hate is too serious a subject for subtleties. Why single out Jews?” said David A. Lehrer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

Jackson sings “Jew me, sue me, everybody do me, kick me, kike me, don’t you black and white me” in a song called “They Don’t Care About Us.” It will be released Tuesday on the album “HIStory Past, Present and Future Book 1.”

It is Jackson’s first album since child molestation claims in 1993 led to a lawsuit and criminal investigations that sidetracked his career. A settlement ended the suit, and prosecutors declined to file charges.

Jackson said in a television interview Wednesday that the song is about victims of prejudice.

“It’s not anti-Semitic because I’m not a racist,” he said. “My accountants and lawyers are Jewish. My three best friends are Jewish - David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg.”

The three are partners in the DreamWorks studio.

Spielberg said he wrote the liner notes on the album in August 1993 for what he thought would be a retrospective album.

“My liner notes are by no means an endorsement of any new songs that appear on what has now been released as Michael Jackson’s ‘HIStory’ album,” Spielberg wrote.