His Way_ The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra - Kitty Kelley [291]
On the trip, Frank was made an honorary tribal chief and presented the Order of the Leopard by the president of Bophuthatswana, who proclaimed him “the king of the entertainment world.” He sang in the $33 million Sun City Hotel and Country Club and collected $2,000,000 from a country whose annual per capita income averages five hundred dollars.
In anti-apartheid eyes, the worst thing Frank did by this performance was to legitimize Sun City for other entertainers like Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Liza Minnelli, Paul Anka, Ray Charles, and Olivia Newton-John. But within two years, leading artists and athletes in the United States launched a campaign to refuse to perform in South Africa. The group, led by Harry Belafonte and Arthur Ashe, included stars like Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, Tony Bennett, Bill Cosby, Muhammad Ali, and Wilt Chamberlain.
“Word needs to get out loud and clear that Bophuthatswana is only a phony homeland,” said Arthur Ashe. “Nobody should be fooled. If an actor or actress goes there, then they are going to South Africa and they are giving approval to a racist regime.”
Singling out Frank for criticism, the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid released a register of 211 entertainers who performed in South Africa, saying that while some of the “collaborators” had perhaps visited the country because of ignorance of the situation, or the lure of exorbitant fees, others showed deliberate insensitivity or hostility to the legitimate aspirations of oppressed people. “Special mention must be made in this connection of Frank Sinatra, who performed in Sun City in … 1981 … and again went to South Africa in 1983 despite many appeals and protests by anti-apartheid groups. …” The U.N.’s celebrity register was compiled to facilitate boycott actions by governments, organizations, and individuals of those who supported Pretoria’s dehumanizing policies.
“Their subsequent demonstrations, meetings, and resolutions to broaden the movement could be called ‘Frank’s contributions,’ ” said The Village Voice.
Nothing exemplified Sinatra’s personal evolution more than this trip to South Africa. During the early years, when he was represented by George Evans, who had him making speeches about racial equality, such a trip would have been unthinkable, even for two million dollars. As a passionate liberal, Sinatra had spoken out fervently on the issue of race relations:
“We’ve got a hell of a long way to go in this racial situation. As long as most white men think of a Negro as a Negro first and a man second, we’re in trouble. I don’t know why we can’t grow up. It took us long enough to get past the stage where we were calling all Italians ‘wops’ and ‘dagos,’ but if we don’t drop this ‘nigger’ thing, we just won’t be around much longer. Hell, actors have got to take a stand politically, even if we’re afraid we’ll get hurt at the box office.” He said that in 1947.
In 1970, after aligning himself with Republicans like Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and Spiro Agnew, Frank lost the impetus to speak out on issues like race relations. As part of the establishment now, he had become politically complacent and conservative. The only issue that continued to excite him was his hatred of the press, which found expression in all his performances.
Acknowledging applause at the Los Angeles Universal Amphitheater, he said, “I haven’t heard that much clapping since NBC kicked Rona Barrett off the lot.” While entertaining NBC affiliates at the Century Plaza Hotel in 1982, he described CBS-TV newsman Dan Rather as a “ycccch.” In Atlantic City, he disparaged Barbara Walters of ABC-TV as “Baba Wawa, a real bow-wow … a pain in the ass who has a lisp and should take diction lessons.”
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