Bush pressured King family to disinvite Belafonte

[mojogeorgo]

Typical, isn't this? We can't possibly have Prince George share the stage with someone he *knows* is a vocal critic, can we? Better to "disinvite" a long time friend of Dr. King, who had been scheculed to speak at Coretta Scott King's funeral.

Legendary entertainer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte on Tuesday explained his absence from Coretta Scott King's funeral.

Belafonte told reporters before a speech at Case Western Reserve University that President Bush influenced the King family to disinvite him from the funeral in suburban Atlanta on Feb. 7.

Belafonte, known to be a friend of Martin Luther King Jr., said he was told about the decision the day before the funeral, at which he had been scheduled to speak.

The King children made the final decision, Belafonte said, but they were "fiercely intimidated by the president's representatives."

Belafonte has been a vocal critic of the Bush administration.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1141205812140360.xml&coll=2

[Stephanie]

1. I feel sick

that makes me physically ill

[rodeodance]

3. double that.

[Kurovski]

32. Break out the Pepto before we all make a mess.

:puke:

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. Unbelievable. nt

[BlueEyedSon]

27. Really? It's their standard M.O.

[SammyWinstonJack]

29. Yes and still I am shocked! nt

[hippiechick]

4. Sickening.

And really, really sad that the family felt they had to give in.

It should have been the memorial service they wanted, that their mother wanted, and that she deserved. Not another photo op for The Grimace.

:(

[msgadget]

24. Noble of him to say they were 'fiercely intimidated...'

so no one would blame them for not standing up for a man who so supported their parents. Sharpton says he won't criticize them because they did have their home bombed and their father killed but I find it disgusting some of them have decided to reject their parent's legacy.

Edit to change 'his' to 'their parent's'

[sui generis]

5. he means "Berniece", I think?

scared she'd lose a big chunk of promised faith based funds to fight the gay married terrorists with.

I'm sure she was thinking, "money, Belafonte, money, Bela-who?"

[madokie]

6. we are gonna have to throw his sorry ass right out the door, then kick him

all the way down the steps. This pisses me off to no end.

[Wickerman]

7. Guess that's the final answer to who "politicized" the King funeral n/t

[liveoaktx]

15. VIDEO- Cornell West talked about this at the Black SOTU

West

Belafonte's comments on Terrorism at the Black SOTU

[reality based]

8. Another question for T Russert to ask Obama the next time he's on MTP

This is sad.

[seriousstan]

9. What did the King family have to say about this?

[wtmusic]

11. Very surprising...I guess bravery isn't genetic nt

[seriousstan]

18. I don't understand. What did they say to make you say that?

Am I missing the King family response somewhere?

[wtmusic]

21. The King family allowed the president's criminals to intimidate them

Did MLK ever back down before injustice?

[lostnfound]

25. I haven't walked in their shoes..

I assume they had a choice to tell shrub not to come. Perhaps it was a conscious choice based on a desire to attempt to influence the creep. After all it is so rare that he gets to hear unfiltered criticism. Maybe they thought it would make a difference for shrub to hear what the others had to say. Who knows?

[wtmusic]

31. You're right

No one knows. Although I don't think him being there did anyone a bit of good, and it would have been nice to see Belafonte tear into Bush on network TV.

[wtmusic]

10. evade, distort, pretend, hide, control,...?

anything but face up to the truth you POS.

[Caoimhe]

12. That is truly disgusting

Coretta would NOT have wanted that.

[peacetalksforall]

13. Belafonte's talk at the convention this last weekend was brilliant.

I hope everyone was as inspired as I was because at the determination of the people I heard last Friday and Saturday.

As to the funeral - I hope some of the fire coming from the daughter of King was in response to the Bush admin demands.

What a stinky, rotten act to intimidate the children. And then right wing critics of the funeral turned around and attacked everyone responsible for the funeral for making it political.

Disgusting.

There is something VERY SERIOUSLY wrong with a man who has to have everything around him orchestrated to protect him from the truth.

He is delciate to the core and all the macho is is posed except for his mouth. I remember him dancing up the stairs to the 747 one day delicately touching his fingers to the railing and kind of bouncing like a dancer and I thought - that is his real self. No one will ever compete with him for being non-presidential. Rove should just let him go, because it is all becoming a huge sick joke. Rove and Karen - you overdid it. Let it go. Let him be his airy, cheerleader, foul-mouthed self and if you must - keep protecting his delicate being.

[Dudley_DUright]

14. Puts Reverend Lowery's comments in perspective since Belafonte

would have been even more outspoken. The shrub got off easy (as usual).

[JohnyCanuck]

22. You got that right

Check out this video clip of Harry's remarks at the Black State of the Union from this past weekend:

http://www.canofun.com/blog/videos/2006/HarryBelafonteOnTerrorismatBlackSOTU.asx

No wonder Shrub didn't want to be in the same room as HB.

[malaise]

16. Good grief

I need to puke.

[cantstandbush]

17. Not only that, most of the pressure had to do with not funding the

church-based programs at the church where the funeral was held.

[Stephanie]

19. PHOTOS >>> Whose Funeral Is It Anyway?

That's weird - the only photo that has expired at Yahoo is the one of Lowery.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=360809

[peacetalksforall]

20. This is making me more upset by the minute. How did Rove and Card

and their team have the guts to pull that one off? I think this bodes dismally about what might be in our future.

Dissent is not tolerated and the prison camps on the grounds of the U.S. are sitting empty - all constructed and ready to go - in isolation and barbed wire.

[wtmusic]

23. K/R nt

[WI_DEM]

26. Why didn't they disinvite Bush instead?

[seriousstan]

28. I asked , "what does the King family say about this", welllll..here it is

That's just not true, according to a public relations spokesman who worked with the King family on services for Mrs. King.

"The rumor Harry Belafonte was disinvited to the King funeral is 100% inaccurate,'' Dan Rene, vice president of Impact Strategies, a Washington-based public relations firm, told me Friday over the telephone, and later in an e-mail. "The only individuals with the authority to take such action were the King family.

"The White House did not have that authority, nor did anyone else — again, only the family. It is ridiculous and insulting to suggest that they would treat someone so close to them and their mother in such a manner.

"It is up to Mr. Belafonte to answer the question of why he was not in attendance. The King children would have welcomed his presence. In fact, he was listed in the program as an honorary pallbearer.

"Additionally, the rumor is very suspect because no one, including Mr. Belafonte, can explain exactly who it was that supposedly disinvited him. The reason for this is, of course, the fact that he was always welcome.''

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/COLUMNIST0107/602160390/1101/NEWS


However, Belafonte did not give a eulogy at King's funeral. His absence from the speakers list during the funeral prompted queries from news sources. Belafonte could not be reached for comment, and has not yet made a public statement explaining his absence. A spokesperson for the King family denied any rumors that he had been asked not to speak at King's funeral.

http://observer.case.edu/Archives/Volume_38/Issue_18/Story_681/

I think it is up to Mr. Belafonte to explain exactly who it was that supposedly disinvited him. Until then, I CALL B.S..

[derby378]

30. What was the SS going to do? Shoot him?

Fred Phelps gets to protest at funerals for veterans, but Harry Belafonte can't attend MLK's funeral. Lovely.

Now I need a drink.

[Tsiyu]

33. Control. Control. Control.

This megalomaniac even has to control a dead woman's funeral service?

How pathetic.