1st, Just so you know, he did make a US version, which you can view here: .. he was so washed the label gave him 2 videos for 1 song....
2nd, Michael was never washed and video budgets around this time were insane.
3rd, if you can't see why Mike wanted to film the video in a favela in Brasil.. I don't know what to tell you.
4th, you state that Mike was washed by 1995, "Scream" hit #5 that year, amid the smear campaign the media was running with Mike's name. "Scream" was one of Mike's most successful videos.. But hey, I guess he was washed, even with the media dragging him and all, he still managed to cut thru.
5th, his last album Invincible sparked 2 top 10 singles...
The media made it a thing to hate Mike, but people were still going home and playing his music and watching his videos......