It’s Me or the Guest: Pat Boone’s Stand Against Apartheid for Harry Belafonte

On this episode of Our American Stories, Pat Boone was at the height of his career when television executives told him to cancel a guest. That guest was Harry Belafonte, the singer whose hit “Day-O” had made him famous around the world. Boone was warned that audiences in some parts of the country wouldn’t accept a Black artist on stage beside him. His answer was simple: if Belafonte wasn’t welcome, neither was he. Boone recalls the night he chose integrity over career security and why that moment meant more than the show itself.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Up next, a story from Pat Boone on two moments
in his life where he took a stand at risk
of career and bodily harm. Let's get into the story.
Take it away, Pat.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
I would like people to know that back during my
days when I was doing the TV show, I was
thrilled to be singing these rhythm blue songs by people
that were becoming friends of mine. Little Richard, Fats Domino,
the Flamingos and the El Dorados and on and on.
They were friends and I was doing their songs. Then

(01:10):
one day Harry Belafani, who was the biggest entertainer in
the world at that time, called me on the phone
and said, I've been watching your TV show and I
like the way you treat your guests. Would you like
me to come on and we can do some songs together. Well,
he's the biggest entertainer in the world, and I said,
of course, I'd love that, and I got had a

(01:32):
meeting soon after that with the producers of the show,
ABC Television and Chevrolet Ad Agency. Harry Bellafari wants to
come on the show and be and they looked at
me with the sober expressions, we can't do that. Why, well,
we didn't tell you, but we we have to tell
you that Chevrolet is having problems in the South with

(01:55):
their dealerships because people are coming in saying that they
like you and your music and they like Chevrolet. But
you're having all these and they'll use the N word
on your show and we're going to have to cut back.
And Harry Belafanti is already involved in civil rights activities
and we might lose Chevrolet as a sponsor if you

(02:16):
have him on, So we're going to have to tell
him no. Well I was stunned, and so I brought
it up again in the conversation. Look, it's called the
Pat Boone Chevy Show. But if Pat Boone has to
say no to Harry Belafonte. I grew up in the South.
I know the problem. I'm not going to be part
of it. I'm not going to perpetuate it. So I'm

(02:37):
going to have to ask you to take my show
from here on. And they're looking stunned at me. You're
going to quit your show for that? I said, Look,
it's more than that. It's more important than me and
my show. It's something that's got to be changed in
this country. I'm just not going to help further it,
this racial prejudice. So then they acquiesced and they said, look,

(02:59):
if we have him come on, will you guarantee there
will be no subtle civil rights things you just I said, Look,
the fact we're singing together on my show will be
all the statement needed to be made, and I can
explain that to Harry. Well. It didn't happen because it

(03:20):
was toward the end of my third season and I
just decided not to do the show anymore because I
knew it was going to come up again and again,
and so I just quit the half hour show and
went to specials. I did some TV specials after that,
and it was long time ago I did any other
kind of a regular show in which I could have

(03:40):
any guess on that I wanted with no problem. But
after that I was asked to come to South Africa
to perform and offering me a lot of this. In
nineteen sixty Nelson Vandela still in prison and aparth I
had fully enforced and they asked me to come, and
I wouldn't do it. Because of their policy. And I said, look,

(04:00):
I'm not telling you how to run your country. We've
still got problems in our country trying to work out.
But I cannot come with people who want to buy
tickets to see me sing or refuse because of their color.
So I have to turn you down. And I did twice.
But the third time we had a closed door meeting
and they said, if you'll give a sure word an

(04:21):
honor as a gentleman, you won't publicize it. The government
is willing to lift apartheid for you for your tour.
And I said, anybody who wants to buy a ticket, color, race,
whatever can come. They said yes, and it'll be publicly known.
So I went and I did my tour in nineteen
sixty they lifted apartheid first and only time at that point,

(04:44):
and I had death threats, but we had people folks
in the audience and watching if any and I laughed.
But it's true. I was sort of a stationary performer then.
I didn't move around the stage like Elvis. I stood
at the mic and sang my song. But in those
shows in South Africa and Durban, Port, Elizabeth, Pretoria, Johannesburg,

(05:07):
I moved around the stage quite a bit and bobbed
and weaved a little in case because I had death threats.
If the threats were if you go before a non
segregated audience, then you're not going to leave the stage alive.
So I went there facing death threats, but nothing happened,
and I did come home safe, and then the curtain

(05:30):
of aparth I'd fell back for another decade, and I've
never talked about it. I can talk about it now
because it was in nineteen sixty, but back then, you know,
I was making a stand, not for publicity at all,
just because of what I thought was right. And since then,
all this time I've been I've been as active as

(05:52):
I can be along the way without putting anybody down,
but just crying for equality and friendship and relationship and
let us all know each other and respect each other
for who we are and what we can be.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Monty Montgomery, and a special thanks to
Pat Boone for sharing those stories with us. And in
part is a story about personal courage. But in the end,
as you're listening to Pat, it's not so much courage.
It's just who he was and he just wasn't going
to do certain things and that was that. And if

(06:33):
he had to lose his show, he lost his show.
It wasn't a large confrontation, it wasn't a public martyring
of himself. He just wanted to do the right thing,
especially having been born from the South and wanting Harry
Belafonte to be able to come on and sing like
anybody else on his show. And my goodness, the story
of him and apartheid and getting aparth died and drawn

(06:54):
back or at least the curtain pulled back for a day,
is just a beautiful story. He ended beautifully. Equality, friendship,
and relationship are the things he was looking for. No politics,
no ideology. Those three things the hallmark of Pat Boone's life.
And by the way, we have more Pat Boon stories.
Go to our American Stories in search for them. It's

(07:15):
a remarkable life, not always an entertainer, but as a
man and also as a Christian man. Just a beautiful
soul story of Pat Boon. Here on our American Stories,
Lee hbib here, and I'm inviting you to help our
American Stories celebrate this country's two hundred and fiftieth birthday

(07:36):
coming soon. If you want to help inspire countless others
to love America like we do, and want to help
us bring the inspiring and important stories told here about
a good and beautiful country, please consider making a tax
deductible donation to Our American Stories. Go to Ouramericanstories dot
com and click the donate button. Any amount helps, go
to Ouramericanstories dot com and give