Priscilla Presley about Elvis being a racist - 'He loved, loved being around Blacks'

Ain't buying what you're selling, bitch

Ain't buying what you're selling, bitch

He fucked pretty much every woman who crossed his path, but none of The Sweet Inspirations.

Did she just suck on a lemon in that pic?

Ha! I think I understand what is meant but it came out sounding wrong.

She’s had awful plastic surgery.

Our country has never been through anything like this? What was this bitch doing during the civil rights movement, which often got violent? Elvis was also fucking teenagers, so of course his fat ass would’ve been cancelled. Stupid hoe.

She was a victim of that crazy plastic surgery guy who was putting plastic into people’s faces. It was a huge scam and she sued.

Facially, she reminds me of Angelyne in the OP pic.

Americans (and Britons) need to grow the fuck up.

[quote] Elvis would probably go to the president, like he did with Nixon, put his foot down and say, 'What's going on?'"

What? This chick is living on another planet

r3, not only that, publicly humiliated them by telling an audience they had catfish breath...I think they ended up walking off stage.

and Priscilla LOVES being around Plastic Surgeons

Dana Ivey's character in The Color Purple loved being around blacks too. She just loved pinching the little pickaninnies cheeks.

I suspect Elvis was more Liberal than is Army brat Priscilla.

One doesn’t need to be liberal to interact with black people.

You can tell this bitch is a Republican. Where were her complaints about the country when Dump was in office?

R16, I get that you might construe what I wrote as condescending. I meant it in the context of 'Cilla's gripes about "losing freedoms," which is a R-W theme.

Nevertheless, I think Elvis would support BLM more than I'd bet Priscilla does.

She's right. She barely said anything and you bitches are ripping her up already.

Why even dignify? I wouldn’t. Who cares if people think you’re “racist”.

I believe Elvis was not personally racist. But I still find it disappointing he didn't use his platform to protest segregation and push for Civil Rights. You had Bob Dylan, Marlon Brando, The Beatles and others who were part of that movement. I don't think Elvis had much to lose and he would have done great things but missed on that opportunity. Also, Elvis definitely groomed Priscilla and I never bought he waited until she was 21 when he knew her since she was 14 and had her live with him.

Thank you (R20). You're absolutely right.

[quote] He fucked pretty much every woman who crossed his path, but none of The Sweet Inspirations.

I wish I could remember who it was, but I saw an interview with a black woman singer (from that era) who said that Elvis propositioned her. Elvis told her that she'd be the first black woman he'd ever had sex with. The woman, in the interview, seemed turned off by Elvis's comment. If I had to guess, she didn't want to be some type of "oddity" for him to experience. She turned him down.

He did have several black friends in and out of showbusiness. One I don't understand why he wasn't included in the film was James Brown, The Godfather of Soul, who was one of Elvis' biggest defenders among black entertainers. I knew a woman who was friends with JB and one of his wives, and she said if you wanted to get JB really angry, all you had to do was call Elvis racist, and JB was ready to kick your ass. He even recorded a tribute single after Elvis' death. His dream was that his Estate in South Carolina was to be turned into a Graceland like museum, sadly his family instead fought for years and the house set abandoned.

She could keep 🤐, that statement is basically acknowledging he was a racist!

I was on a flight to Atlanta with her about 10 years ago and her face looked like a porcelain doll mask…very white and very motionless.

[quote]She’s had awful plastic surgery.

She actually had some of the worst of it fixed. About 15 years ago she went to a fly-by-night "MD" in Florida who shot up her face with industrial grade silicone.

R27 There is no excuse for going to a cheap doctor considering all the money she has made off of her dead ex-husband. Maybe if she gave less to her cult, she could afford better surgeons.

Everyone has prejudices and bias. It's human nature. Research the racism between dark and light skin black people. Plenty of gays hate women and straight people. Plenty of straights hate gays. Ghetto blacks vs educated blacks. Relax everyone. Get laid. Get out of the house.

The DLers of this thread prove her right. You are all totally crazy. To read you it looks like she insulted you or something, you react exactly as she describes it. What a bunch of idiots. And to think that Democrats are not racist is the worst dishonesty of all. Nathan Bedford Forest, the founder of the KKK, was a Democrat. The Democrats were in favour of segregation before Kennedy, so stop your pseudo-angel postures that you’ve never been.

Racist has nothing to do with the political party.

^Racism

Something about the way she keeps referring to them as "Blacks" seems racist.

Rita Moreno has said in her book that Elvis was a terrible lay....boring and racked with religious guilt.

You’re the one who has a problem with the word black. You know black people talk about themselves as blacks or African Americans. Black is not an insult. Another one who does not know what to say and who exposes the absolute emptiness of his cranial box.

"Black" isn't an insult, but grouping people as Blacks, Whites, etc is racist and condescending. She said "He loved being around Blacks."

There is nothing racist in it at all. She is talking about racism, what do you want her to say??? You're ridiculous. Do you even know what racism is???? Unbelievable.

R23 You’re referring to Darlene Love. This is what she said about Elvis a few years ago.

You’d just be hanging out and singing?

Yes! Whatever song he knew — “Amazing Grace” or “River of Jordan” or “Heaven Is a Wonderful Place” or “Sweet Hour of Prayer.” We called them hymns of the church. There was another one called “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior.” The Blossoms were known for their harmony. We’d harmonize with him. There’s something we had with Elvis that others didn’t have. It was fun to be wanted by someone like Elvis Presley.

He had tremendous respect for you.

Yes, he did. That was great. I always say he left us way too soon. He is where I plan to go one day, so I’ll see him again.

You were all rather young and great-looking. Was there any sexual tension in the air?

There was. It could have been. But I was too scared to do anything.

You fool! [Laughs] Kidding. You wanted to keep it professional.

And I definitely did. Something about dating someone you’re working for, it takes away from that. “I know he’s never gonna look at me the same after this.” [Laughs] He’d start playing with me. He’d tap you on the shoulder or do a hip shake, and me and Elvis knew what that meant.

Flirting?

Yeah, I think so, and I think it showed his human side. I wasn’t bad-looking — and I was thin, too. [Laughs] He wanted to take out time and be around us. The reason we sang on his ’68 comeback special is he was the one that insisted that the Blossoms sing in the music section of the show.

So Elvis treated you better than Phil Spector did?

Oh my God, I’d say so.

That’s an easy one.

That’s a real easy one. Phil took advantage of me and my talent. With Elvis, he wanted us to work, and we got paid well. It wasn’t like Phil Spector cracking the whip and us running around!

R12 Cissy Houston said she didn’t believe Elvis was prejudiced.

R21 Wasn’t this song a tribute to MLK Jr.? I agree tho that Elvis could’ve done a lot more to use his platform.

I guess this is naive of me to say but I can believe Elvis didn’t have sex with Priscilla until they married. He groomed her and there’s no excuse for that, but he was obsessed with virgins and maintaining her virginity in particular. Rita Moreno said in her memoir he was content with just grinding against her body fully clothed and tenderly tussling on the floor together. She speculated he had an Opedial complex.

The definitive truth about Elvis Presley and racism according to B.B. King

R21, When did the Beatles "push for Civil Rights"?

Elvis may be a problematic figure but there’s no strong evidence he was the racist boogeyman people make him out to be. Here’s Baz Luhrman interviewing his childhood friend Sam Bell, who recently passed away.

R39, "She speculated he had an Oedipal complex."

YA THINK?!

[...]

“A lot of people seem to think I started this business, but rock ‘n’ roll was here a long time before I came along,” Elvis told Jet‘s Louie Robinson. “Nobody can sing that kind of music like colored people. Let’s face it: I can’t sing it like Fats Domino can. I know that. But I always liked that kind of music. I used to go to the colored churches when I was a kid – like Rev. Brewster’s church (Rev. W. Herbert Brewster of East Trigg Ave. Baptist Church in Memphis).”

[...]

R30, Yeah, yeah. And Lincoln was a Republican.

Get into the post-1964 world, okay?

No one calls Frank Sinatra even though he demeaned Sammy Davis Jr. numerous times on stage and regularly used the N word according to his Black valet.

It’s interesting Elvis recorded a song like this considering how apolitical he was.

To support r24.

Maybe Brown didn't fit Baz's vision/timeline.

R49, In case you didn't see the movie....

"In the Ghetto" plays over the credits.

Elvis wasn't racist. He got his start singing in baptist Churches and had black friends throughout his life. RFK's assassination was the inspiration behind "If I Can Dream" .....

No one calls Frank Sinatra racist**

I get why people like Ray Charles were critical of Elvis. It’s problematic he got more famous for making black music more than any other black artist. But Elvis acknowledged he was influenced by black music and black artists, and he also rejected being called the king of rock n’ roll, he said Fats Domino was the real king. People say he stole black music but he never claimed to write any of the songs he covered?

Fats Domino paying tribute to Elvis.

omg her face !!!!!

R48, Sinatra a racist? Are you KIDDING ME?!

theyr africans, not blacks.

In Sammy Davis Jr.’s memoir he said he and Elvis were being considered for the roles of The Defiant Ones but the colonel shot it down.

R57 He did a lot to help black people and combat segregation but he still used racist language and made a joke of Sammy Davis Jr. on stage. Also supported racist presidents like Reagan.

R58 is a moron.

And maybe people should know something about the actual songwriters of "Hound Dog" and other Elvis hits. Not exactly a Black Pantheon, though Blacks sang their songs.

This white band covered Hound Dog before Elvis. He apparently wanted to record the song after he heard their version.

R60, Again, a little learning is a dangerous thing. The Rat Pack mocked each other on-stage. It was their hipster "anti-Clyde" schtick.

The operative term, though, is "on-stage." Sinatra DID NOT HAVE TO include Sammy as a full-fledged colleague in racist America.

Get it?

Elvis is proof propaganda works. So many people believe he was a racist when there’s a lot of evidence indicating he wasn’t.

It's our times, r64.

R65 Twitter tried its hardest to make the movie flop but it didn’t work.

Race racity race race….zzzzzzzzzz

[R41] The Beatles refused to play segregated venues.

At least she didn't say "the" blacks.

Better than her saying he had a black friend and black employees.

R68, I stand corrected. And glad of it.

Here's what arguably the definitive biographer of Elvis had to say about "Elvis was a racist":

Here's the irony:

Credence is given to the "feelings" and "opinions" of a Mary J. Blige or a Chuck D. over the reality of Elvis.

Not much different under the skin from the "feelings" and "opinions" of a modern-day Deplorable over the reality of Trump.

Scrolling down all the quotes* about Elvis in the article at r72, I think the one of Elvis's bassist, Norbert Putman, equally applies to Austin Butler as actor:

"...no inhibitions whatsoever."

I believe we are witnessing the emergence of a super-nova in this actor.

His dedication to his craft amazed the great Denzel, such that Denzel felt compelled to inform Baz of it. Besides his now-almost-legendary work on "Elvis," Austin took horse-riding lessons just so he and not a stunt-double could ride his "horsie" for his brief scenes in OUATIH (so yes, that is he).

Consider the "New Yorker" review of Austin's Broadway DEBUT in 2018, linked below. Worth reading in its entirety for the praise of AB.

*They're in alphabetical order.

Yes, r73 is a digression. So let's call it "A lauded Black actor recommends a White boy to play Elvis! Full circle!"

The issue is people today keep looking and examining Elvis with modern mentality. Elvis was born in the south in 1935! By todays standards, he may have been “racist” but he was the complete opposite back then. He grew up in a black neighborhood and would sneak off to black churches and preferred to be around black people. Does that mean he was perfect? No. No one is. He still had his prejudices, but he also didn’t view black people as beneath him, and preferred their company to most white people. He seemed to feel a connection to them more than the average white person.

Him not fucking a black woman doesn’t mean he was racist. Even most progressives and civil rights activists were against interracial, or at least would never partake in it. Most people back then, white and black and Latin (considered its own race back then) and Asian believed you marry your own. You can be friends and coworkers etc. with others but when it came to dating, marriage and sex, you are to be with “your own”. In todays world that would make him a racist to many, but in the past it was different and that is what was taught and believed.

People really need to stop viewing the past through modern lenses. It’s getting ridiculous.

Elvis was far from perfect but he wasn’t some raging racist either.

I don't believe he was racist but I really don't think he gave a shit about black people either. Maybe he liked them individually as friends but I don't think he cared about their community or rights as human beings. He was very passive in regards to the huge civil rights movement and fight to desegregate America. So many white people risked their lives to support equal rights including entertainers who were blacklisted.

His mentality wasn't unique though and it's still pretty common. White Americans don't see themselves as a collective and view everyone as individual. So the idea of systemic oppression doesn't fit in that individualistic mindset because it's the responsibility of the individual to ignore their environment, disregard their culture and fight social barriers to assimilate and become successful. Straight people have the same mentality towards gays and men towards women.

'Before Elvis we had Little Black Sambo, separate black restrooms and water fountains, and colored events that kept us away from the whites', King noted as he mention that Presley would attend events especially designated just for African-Americans. In June 1956, Presley ignored Memphis's segregation ordinances by attending 'colored night' at the local fairgrounds amusement park. The following December, King was there as Presley opened up almost unbreakable racial barriers by attending and supporting the segregated WDIA black radio station's annual fund-raising event for 'needy Negro children' at Memphis' Ellis Auditorium.

King wrote in his autobiography that he 'liked Elvis. I saw him as a fellow Mississippian. I was impressed by his sincerity. When he came to the Goodwill Review (the event WDIA fund raisers of 1956 and 1957), he did himself proud'.

'The Goodwill Revues were important', he wrote. 'The entire black community turned out. All the DJs carried on, putting on skits and presenting good music'.

'When Elvis appeared (in 1956) he was already a big, big star', King continued. 'Remember this was the fities so for a young white boy to show up in an all-black function took guts'.

'I believe he was showing his roots and he seemed proud of those roots. After the show he made a pint of posing for pictures with metreating me like royalty', King recalled. 'He'd tell people I was one of his influences. I doubt whether that's true but I like hearing Elvis give Memphis credit for his musical upbringing'.

'Back in '72, Elvis helped me get a good gig at the Hilton Hotel while he was playing in the big theater', King acknowledged in 2010. 'He put in a call for me and I worked in the lounge to standing room only. Elvis fans came in different colors but their love of good music was all the same. They were always a good audience'.

'Many nights I'd go upstairs after we finished our sets and go up to his suite', King confessed. 'I'd play Lucille (his guitar) and sing with Elvis, or we'd take turns. It was his way of relaxing'.

'I'll tell you a secret', King winked and laughed. 'We were the original Blues Brothers because that man knew more blues songs that most in the business - and after some nights it felt like we sang everyone one of them. But my point is, that when we were hanging out in the Hilton in the 70s, Elvis had not lost his respect, his 'yes sir,' his love for all fields of music. And I liked that'.

At the same time 'Heartbreak Hotel' was climbing the charts in March 1956, Billboardmagazine featured an article called, 'Barriers Being Swept Away in C&W, Pop and R&B Fields. 'Hard and fast cleavages between the country and western, pop, and rhythm and blues fields are rapidly breaking down', writer Paul Ackerman penned. 'Perhaps the most interesting example of the breakdown of categories, however, is the current overlapping of the country, rhythm and blues fields … The outstanding example of this type of performer today is Elvis Presley, recently with Sun Records and now on the Victor label'.

When Sam Phillips, as Sun Records, released a Presley record, he made sure each bop/rock/pop song had a country tune on the flip side to appeal to both type of listeners. RCA took this innovation even further by marketing Presley in Country, Rhythm and Blues, and Pop fields. By May of 1956, Presley's 'Heartbreak Hotel' became the first 'Double-Triple Crown' in Billboard history.

In his autobiography, King said he held no grudges because 'Elvis didn't steal any music from anyone. He just had his own interpretation of the music he'd grown up on, same is true for everyone. I think Elvis had integrity'.

'If anyone says Elvis Presley was a racist', charged B.B. King in the 2010 interview. 'Then they don't know a thing about Elvis Presley or music history.

Elvis had no control over anything in his life. You really think the colonel would’ve let him get involved in the civil rights movement?

He didn’t even want him to sing the If I Can Dream song.

I love this “steal black music” narrative so what’s “steal Asian music “ “white music” it’s MUSIC. If blacks want to be equal & acceptable than stop putting their race in front of things “black Twitter “ black colleges” “black hair” it’s music , college and Hair. I’m so done with this having it both ways bullshit. It’s why racism still exists and ramps up. Don’t tell me you need to put this many types of people into jobs even if they’re not as qualified or hard working. Elvis wasn’t racist , he wasn’t tying blacks people to trees, he clearly grew up with different races and never seemed to be scared to be seen with them when it wasn’t accepted.

Elvis was generous towards the black people in his life. Comment from LSA about Elvis and their grandfather Roy Hamilton:

“But what I will say is that Elvis always made it clear on how much of an influence he was on his vocals and delivery, especially on ballads. He apparently felt so indebted to him that when my grandfather died unexpectedly, he started secretly sending money yearly to my grandmother. He never mentioned it when he called or visited her. It appeared to be from the record label as royalties but she only learned it was him after his death due to the estate informing her. That money didn't stop until the 2000s, decades from when it began.

Was this due to him feeling guilty for his financial success knowing my grandfather and other black artists should've been just as financially successful as he was? Possibly but it is what it is. Take that for what it's worth.”

Comment from LSA user*

Elivs was gay, one of his lovers was Nick Adams, the actor in the Rebel TV series.

R83 grow up.

You were always a placeholder to Pam.

When Bobby said on his dream deathbed 'all that time we could have been together' he was talking about PAM!

Not racist, ever.

when did it become uncouth to use the term Negroes?

If only there were a means to finding out, r87.

more plastique surgery priscilla ~