“Beat It” is the song whose music video features gang members in the 2026 film Michael.
The film shows Michael watching a news report about the Crips–Bloods gang war and then hiring members of both gangs to appear in the “Beat It” music video. The sequence connects Jackson's creative ideas to a major visual production from his early-1980s career.
“Beat It” is separate from the film's “Thriller” sequence, which includes Ola Ray and John Landis, and from the “Billie Jean” performance at Motown 25. The story also distinguishes the 1984 Pepsi commercial, where pyrotechnics cause Jackson's hair to catch fire.