How reminiscent of the Nazis

How reminiscent of the Nazis

Angry reactions flared up from Christian communities in August 1966, after John Lennon’s remark that The Beatles had become more popular than Jesus was quoted by the American teen magazine, Datebook

Angry reactions flared up from Christian communities in August 1966, after John Lennon’s remark that The Beatles had become more popular than Jesus was quoted by the American teen magazine, Datebook

When published in the United Kingdom in March 1966, Lennon's words provoked no public reaction.

Angry reactions flared up from Christian communities in August 1966, after John Lennon’s remark that The Beatles had become more popular than Jesus was quoted by the American teen magazine, Datebook

When published in the United Kingdom in March 1966, Lennon's words provoked no public reaction.

The Beatles' records were publicly burned, press conferences were cancelled and threats were made.

Angry reactions flared up from Christian communities in August 1966, after John Lennon’s remark that The Beatles had become more popular than Jesus was quoted by the American teen magazine, Datebook

When published in the United Kingdom in March 1966, Lennon's words provoked no public reaction.

The Beatles' records were publicly burned, press conferences were cancelled and threats were made.

The US tour went ahead but there was disruption and intimidation, including picketing of concerts by the Ku Klux Klan.

Professor Brian Ward of the University of Manchester says the tour stirred up fears and feelings about race relations and had links to the development of the Civil Rights movement:There are some surprising links between the Beatles and the story of southern race relations and the civil rights movement…Deejays Tommy Charles and Doug Layton of WAQY in Birmingham – the scene of major civil rights disturbances in the 1960s – were first to pick up on Lennon’s comments and initiate a ‘Ban-the-Beatles Campaign’.There was also conspicuous involvement of the Ku Klux Klan in the campaign against the Fab Four. In South Carolina, for example, the Klan Grand Dragon Bob Scoggins nailed a Beatles record to a large cross and set it on fire.Other Klansmen justified their campaign on the grounds that not only were the Beatles blasphemous, but that they were not really white’ either.

Angry reactions flared up from Christian communities in August 1966, after John Lennon's remark that The Beatles had become "more popular than Jesus" was quoted by the American teen magazine, Datebook. Lennon originally made the remark when an English newspaper reporter, Maureen Cleave, interviewed him at home for a series of articles on the lifestyles of the four individual Beatles, to appear in the London Evening Standard. When published in the United Kingdom in March 1966, Lennon's words provoked no public reaction.When Datebook quoted Lennon's comments five months later in August 1966, vociferous protests broke out in the southern United States. The Beatles' records were publicly burned, press conferences were cancelled and threats were made. The protest spread to other countries including Mexico, South Africa and Spain; there were anti-Beatles' demonstrations and their music was banned on radio stations. The controversy erupted on the eve of the group's US tour, and the anger and scale of the reaction led their manager, Brian Epstein, to consider cancelling the tour.Two press conferences were held in the US, where both Epstein and then Lennon expressed their regret at words taken out of context and offence taken. Christian spokesmen pointed out that Lennon had only stated what the church was itself saying about the decline of Christianity. The US tour went ahead but there was disruption and intimidation, including picketing of concerts by the Ku Klux Klan, and at one concert the group mistakenly believed they were the target of gunfire.[1]