Harry Belafonte’s 1968 Takeover of “The Tonight Show”

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Here’s Johnny Carson, this incredibly successful middle America TV late night host, and he also realizes that something is going on around the country. But he feels like he can’t do it himself. Just fill that in for us because it speaks volumes about Johnny Carson as well.

YORUBA RICHEN, DIRECTOR, “THE SIT-IN; HARRY BELAFONTE HOSTS THE TONIGHT SHOW”: Absolutely. You know, it’s — how could anybody not realize that something was happening in this country that was very big and consequential? And Johnny had the foresight to know, you know, that he wasn’t the person that could, you know, bring all of these issues to light in a way that was both informative and entertaining. And so, kudos to Johnny for recognizing that, and he felt that Harry was the only person who could do it. Harry was, at that time, and for many years, a huge star. He was on star on stage as an actor and singer. He was a star on screen, as an actor and singer as well. Really, the first — one of the first like multi hyphenate entertainers of the 20th century. So, Johnny recognized that and recognized that Harry was the one who could do it, bring these big issues to a mainstream audience, both black and white, and could also be entertaining.

AMANPOUR: Yes, because it wasn’t just politics. As you say, it was art as well, but it all led to, you know, this massive moment that was going on. And of course, of the great political names, he was able to secure Martin Luther King. He was his friend. He was a fellow activist. We’re going to play a clip in a minute, but I just want you to tell the story of how when he told — you know, he told the Brass (ph) that he had secured Dr. King, what their response to that was.

RICHEN: Yes. So, Harry was able to, you know, create his own guestlist and happily wanted to have on. When he told the higher-ups that Dr. King was going to be on, they said — they reportedly said, he’s not going to talk about that civil rights stuff, is he? And Harry said, well, what do you want him to do, sing a song? So, yes, there was obviously some fear from the higher-ups about what they were going to get into that night.