April 8
1961
BBC Radio bans Gene McDaniel’s song “100 Pounds of Clay” because it has a reference to women being created from building materials. Britain’s censors considers that lyric to be blasphemous.
1968
NBC airs Petula Clark’s TV special, Petula, but controversy surrounds a duet with Harry Belafonte. Clark takes his arm during a song and the director later asks them to redo it standing apart. Remember, this is 1968. Turns out a sponsor saw the first take and wanted it re-shot. The company sold cars in the South, and thought showing a white woman touching a black man might affect car sales. Clark and her husband, who’s also the executive producer, are not happy about the move and tell the director to erase all the takes except the one the sponsor objected to. That’s the one included in the broadcast.
1980
Warren Zevon makes his return to Columbus
