Colorized by me.
In 1948, live television lived in fear - of sponsors, censors, and angry letters. But Ed Sullivan refused to bow. When Nat King Cole was booked for The Ed Sullivan Show, CBS panicked. Sponsors threatened to pull their ads. “A Negro singer in prime time? America’s not ready,” they warned. Ed’s reply was simple: “Then they can go to hell.”That Sunday, he introduced Nat King Cole with quiet pride — no hesitation, no apology. Hate mail flooded in. Ed read every word… and then booked Nat again. He stood by Elvis Presley when the world called him obscene. He gave The Supremes, Harry Belafonte, and The Jackson 5 their stage when most networks wouldn’t.
Offstage, he wasn’t warm or charming - but he had courage when it counted. And when he brought The Beatles to America in 1964, 73 million people watched. The world shifted that night.Ed Sullivan didn’t just host a show. He built a stage where courage sang louder than fear. "You don’t bow to fear," he said. "You put on the show".
A lot of those craven racist cowards were northeasterners and midwesterners. You know, places where the KKK were really strong.
ReplyDeleteI grew up watching The Ed Sullivan Show as part of the Sunday night line up in the 60's. I never got the message that I was supposed to lose my mind, or get the offended because the person on the tube looked different than me. The ONLY thing I care about was the music or the role they played the tv series I liked.
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