Was Elvis Presley a racist?

[Tomconroy]

Last edited Mon Jul 19, 2021, 07:13 PM - Edit history (2)

I recently posted a couple of videos of Elvis from his 1968 tv comeback special and suddenly was reminded of a high school classmate describing Elvis as a terrible racist. I had no idea what the answer was so I decided to do some investigating on the internet. Here's what I found:
The rumor of Elvis being a racist goes back to the 50s. A magazine called Sepia ran a story that included what it acknowledged was a rumored racist quote. Chuck D of Public Enemy described Elvis as a racist in a song lyric. Mary J. Blige described Elvis as racist in describing her anguish over covering Blue Suede Shoes. And most recently Quincy Jones said Elvis refused to work with him on a tv show when he was a writer for Tommy Dorsey's band. Tommy Dorsey hosted the tv show. The interview was in a May edition of the Hollywood Reporter.
The Sepia story was actually investigated by Jet Magazine in 1957. The author could find no factual basis for the rumor. They interviewed Presley and he denied ever making the statement and said effectively he had too much respect for black musicians and black music to ever consider making the rumored statement. In the 1960s he complained to his housekeeper he was still troubled by the rumor, saying he had practically been raised by the black next door neighbors and often attended black Churches when young to hear gospel music.
I don't take the statements of Chuck D or Mary J Blige too seriously since neither ever met Presley and have given no source for their views. I was troubled by Quincy Jones' statement since he knew Presley at least slightly. Then I checked Wikipedia. There it stated that Jones played second trumpet in the Dorsey band that backed Elvis. So according to that Elvis did play with Jones. More tellingly I read a GQ interview that Jones gave in 2018 where he told a very different story. This time there was no mention of Elvis' racism. He said that Tommy Dorsey refused to play with Elvis and that Elvis couldn't sing. In fact Dorsey had Elvis on his show for six straight weeks. In the same interview he described the Beatles as lousy musicians. Shortly after the 2018 interview Jones put up a post on twitter saying his daughters had staged an intervention with him because of the odd things he was saying in interviews.
That is about the extent of what I could find of people actually saying Elvis was racist.
There is a lot of information to the contrary. Here is a long article on the subject:

https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis-not-racist.shtml

It's from an obviously pro Elvis source but it contains a lot of information. In the mid 50s Elvis made a point of attending the Memphis Fairgrounds Amusement Park on a night reserved for black people in the segregated south. He twice attended a fundraiser sponsored by the Memphis black radio station WDIA for the benefit of black charities in 1956 and 1957. He may have been the only white person present (I'm not certain). There are a number of musicians who are on the record as speaking highly of Elvis and their friendship including James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Fats Domino. When Elvis was once asked in the 1970s if he was the king of rock and roll.he said: No. Fats Domino was the King.
Perhaps most telling was the statement of BB King. He knew Elvis from the early days of Sun Records. He said Elvis didn't have a racist bone in his body. The first time they met Elvis addressed him as 'Sir'. B.B. King liked that.
There is a lot more material out there. You can just Google: Elvis and racism and come up with a lot of stuff.
Apparently Elvis was an admirer of Martin Luther King. Some people said that he had memorized King's I have a dream speech. And indeed a record of King's speeches was among Elvis' record collection.
I recently posted a video from his 1969 tv special of the song If I Can Dream. It was written for Elvis in June 1968 shortly after MLKs death. Elvis insisted on it being the last song he sung on the program, over the objection of his manager. It does contain allusions to some of the phrases of MLKs 1963 speech. Many people think it is Elvis' single greatest performance.
When I started researching the issue I had no idea if Elvis was a racist. I think I now know the answer.

[Ocelot II]

1. Elvis was a southerner and it was the '50s. So probably yes, at least then.

Maybe he changed his attitude later.

[prodigitalson]

27. By today's standards? Yeah

For a white southerner in the 50s probably a n-word lover in the parlance of the times.

[Merlot]

2. Interesting, thanks for the research.

Would love to see the performance of "I Can Dream" you referenced. Does it exist online.

[Tomconroy]

3. It's worth watching.

[Merlot]

8. Nice. The words did indeed sound like it was inspired from MLK's speech

[Srkdqltr]

4. This was 70 years ago. He has been dead most if that time.

I don't see the relevance.

[Tomconroy]

5. Quincy Jones quote about Elvis being a racist

Just this past May got a lot of publicity. No one bothered to check what he said in 2018. But if you don't think the topic has any relevance so be it.

[MisterNiceKitty]

12. I think Quincy Jones has a book out and is trying to sell it (just a theory)

Also some would say these vicious rumors about Elvis were done as a way to keep blacks and whites divided.

[Tomconroy]

13. In the interview he also claimed

To speak 26 languages. I guess it could be, but that's a lot of languages

[MisterNiceKitty]

15. Wait Quincy Jones claimed to speak 26 languages?

He also had somethings to say about Marlon Brando, Michael Jackson and others (which I won't repost here).

More at the link but proceed with caution: https://www.ebony.com/entertainment/quincy-jones-richard-pryor/

The link to the full Vulture interview is at the ebony link.

[multigraincracker]

6. I've always felt racism is a curve, not

a either or. Where you are on the curve is all that matters.
According to Anthropologist the term “race” is not a valid concept as there are more genetic differences within the so called “races” than there are between them. I think “bigotry” is more valid.

Just my view.

[Mike Nelson]

9. Hmm...

... I also heard him say, once, that Brook Benton was his favorite singer. He got a kick out of people thinking he was Black, when local stations started playing his blues sides. Back then, many stations wouldn't play "Negro Music" and some of his records were questionable on "Hillbilly" radio stations. Elvis had a great "gospel" background, too... but he really crossed the genres.

... As a young man, he dressed and looked "part-Black," according to some. Many people did think he was Black, in some part/way, and he did little to distance himself from the characteristics.

... In the film "Flaming Star" he played a "half-breed" and said there would be no light-hearted soundtrack LP. As mentioned, the management did not want him to conclude that 1968 TV Special with "If I Can Dream". When he stood up to Parker, and the studios, he excelled (he should have made it a routine!).

... He certainly was acquainted with racism, being a poor southern country boy. He may have even had some self-reflecting to do... but a true racist of the era would not behave as Elvis Presley did.

... Of course, that's all just my opinion!

[Dan]

16. +1

[MisterNiceKitty]

10. Op this is an interesting topic, but why is the word "tumor" appearing in your post instead of rumor

that @#@~!!! auto-correct....

[Tomconroy]

11. Those letter buttons on the phone are really tiny!

[Lithos]

14. While I will give Quincy Jones his opinion

I also know that Quincy was prone to vomit salad interviews where he would make extremely wild remarks. One famous thing where he called the Beatles "no-playing m*f-ers". In this case, he theoretically only met Elvis once and even then associated another person - Otis Blackwell who Quincy said was teaching Elvis how to sing. But Otis Blackwell said he had in turn never met Elvis.

What I think is probably a more fair statement and opinion is that Elvis made money singing Black music at a time when Black musicians were being subjugated to systemic racism in society and in the music industry and barely able to get by. I'm sure this left a very sour taste for Black musicians and producers at the time who viewed the system as rigged and Elvis part of the system.

[Mike Nelson]

18. Well...

... several have said they appreciated "cover" versions of their songs - it brought them much-needed money. I believe many Black performers also liked Elvis' covers... for example, "Tutti-Frutti" was released by Little Richard. Because radio stations were segregated, white singers would "cover" R&B hits. Pat Boone covered "Tutti-Frutti" as did Elvis. Boone's version was released as a single...

[link:http://|

]

... it lacks soul!

... the same thing happened with The Beatles and the "British Invasion" groups. Little Richard and others liked, I believe, the versions of his songs by people like Elvis Presley and The Beatles. I think, from Pat Boone, he liked the money... and the covers did bring attention to the original versions. Soon, radio stations were playing the originals.

[Tomconroy]

21. Jackie Wilson was quoted as saying

That most black solo performers stole moves from Elvis.

[AverageOldGuy]

22. Little Richard . . . .

. . . is the ONLY singer who can perform Tutti-Frutti the way it should be performed.

Ditto for Long Tall Sally, Lucille, Good Golly Miss Mollie . . . .

Back when I was growing up in Mississippi in the 1950's, we were absolutely forbidden to listen to "N####r Music" under penalty of dying and going to Hell. So, Bo Hill and I would sneak literally across the track to the Black juke joints for the music (and the occasional knife fight and a sip or two of Pearl beer).

[kimbutgar]

17. My sister used to say Elvis was a bigot

When we were in Memphis I wanted to go to Graceland and talked her into it. Once there we met an elderly African American man who was one of the docents. He knew Elvis and spoke highly of him and then he showed us the car that Elvis brought him and told us how he used to go down to a Beale street incognito and Elvis would sing the blues in the black clubs. At the time they were segregated then but Elvis said he liked the black clubs better!

[FakeNoose]

20. That's good enough for me

The real truth is that Elvis was an undercover liberal.

Thanks friend!

[AverageOldGuy]

24. White folks . . .

. . . don't have soul. And can't jump.

[Probatim]

19. If Elvis were alive, do you know what he'd be doing today?

Scratching at the lid of his coffin...

[ALBliberal]

23. Remembering his song "In the Ghetto"

My sister had it on a 45 and we played it often. A lot of empathy there for black brethren. The song made an impact on me as a white kid growing up in Texas. Definitely had a hand in opening my eyes to the plight of growing up black in America.

[flotsam2]

25. Is this a song a racist sings?

[Tomconroy]

26. I thought I'd do a little follow up since I still

Last edited Wed Jul 21, 2021, 05:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Find this an interesting topic. What I found makes me more convinced than ever that Quincy Jones is just making stuff up. He seems to want to disparage any musician that didn't work with him. Even his 2018 interview in GQ is wrong. There is a video on youtube of Elvis on the first Tommy James show. He brought his own band to play with him that night. There is an audio of the third show performance of Heartbreak Hotel. The Dorsey band can be heard loud and clear including trumpets. So if wikipedia is correct chances are Jones was playing that night. I've read an article from someone who's heard later performances (apparently video exists of all the shows Elvis appeared on but they aren't up on youtube) that says the band can be heard a bit in the background. So Jone's claim in 2018 that Dorsey and his band refused to play with Elvis is just garbage.
It's too bad that Jones' claims got a lot of coverage. They were picked up by the NY Post and several british newspapers as well as dozens or more websites. It's understandable how in years past the rumor that Elvis was a racist could spread. There was simply no way to verify information. But in the past what, twenty years, we have the web. You can see that Jones' 2021 story was inexplicably different from his 2018 story that in itself was factually wrong. You can see video of BB King, James Brown, Little Richard and Jackie Wilson (If you don't know who Wilson was, check out the recent movie One Night In Miami) expressing their devotion to Presley. Of you can find a single reference to someone who knew Elvis and said he was a racist, let me know, because I looked and couldn't find one.
Even on this thread there were a couple of people who opined that because he was white and grew up in the south he had to have racist feelings. But his experience was a bit different. His family was dirt poor and he generally had black neighbors (not true for many of us who grew up in the north). He loved gospel music and sometimes attended black Churches when he was young so he could hear it. He was a weekly attendee at what was then Memphis' only integrated event a group gospel sing.
Why do I think this is important? I won't go through all the quotes from all of the living rock legends who express their debt and admiration for Elvis. I'll refer you to the videos on youtube of his 1968 performance. It was before he became a charicature of himself in Las Vegas. They show why he was a rock and Roll legend.