"It is precisely because Presley is singled out for such criticism that it should be mentioned. Well that is your opinion. I would go a different way: The famous musicians (or their fans) who accused him should show their sources (they have the advantage of being alive and are able to defend themselves against accusations). It would make more sence to me to write about the obvious racism of Chuck D and Mary Blidge and a lot of other famous people than about Elvis' non-exixting racism. I think it's is unfair to the music and cultural impact of Elvis that such things got too much space in the article and other much more essential aspects of Elvis did not get mentioned. I think people who are interested in the person and music of Mary Blidge or Chuck D should discuss it on the discussion site of their articles in wikipedia. They should find out if there is racism or not. Or maybe start an article ""racism in showbussiness"" and dicuss it there. I think you should not let  it become your problem that some people (for instance Chuck D and Blidge obviously) have problems with 1.Elvis being white , 2.the fact that he was from the rural south, 3.that they believe what other people say only because they share a similar pigmentation and repeat it without checking out any sources or 4.that they wanted get simply attention. By the way - Do you think this musicians ever heard one of  A. Crudup's or Kokomo Arnold's songs or even Roy Brown? I think you could write that Elvis was target of racism and accused of being a racist and mentioning some source and footnotes. But for an article about Elvis it is too detailed the way it is. I think give Elvis credit for what he did - positive and negative - and not for what he did not do.

About Elvis meeting the Beatles: Okay they met and there was no chemistry between them. Did it have any impact on Elvis? He did not like the Beatles before and not after they met. It is another anecdote from Elvis' view. But I think it would be worth reading in a article about the Beatles or John Lennon. He meant much more to them than the other way around (positive or negative). I only gave details about the meeting I've read in a german book which proably was not published in english language. It shows a very negative behavior of Elvis and I wished he would have act different but the sources are that way and having the Beatles Anthology on dvd I could see and hear  Ringo Starr telling the story (only McCartney was very, very kind, maybe even a little bit white washing).

I would like to know what you think about my comments about Berry, Perkins, Kokomo Arnold etc.. I think it tells something about the accusation of stealing music. Heard several years ago an interview with Dave Bartholomew when he played in Switzerland where he said he listened with Fats Domino to many songwriters black and white, blues and country, and he bought the best songs, arranged and changed them and put his name (and Dominos) under it. He said that was common and he knew from some former Ellington musicians that the Duke did the same. 87.162.47.181   Franco, Deutschland

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