'Epitome of a Celebrity Activist': Harry Belafonte Dies at 96

Former President Obama once asked him to cut him 'some slack'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 25, 2023 9:33 AM CDT
Harry Belafonte, Activist and Entertainer, Dies at 96
In this Dec. 6, 2014, file photo, Harry Belafonte arrives at a charity gala in Berlin.   (AP Photo/Steffi Loos, File)

Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian, and conscience of the world, has died. He was 96, reports the AP. Belafonte died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home, his wife, Pamela, by his side, said a rep. With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit "Banana Boat Song (Day-O)," and its call of "Day-O! Daaaaay-O." But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson's decree that artists are "gatekeepers of truth."

He stands as the epitome of a celebrity activist. Few kept up with Belafonte's time and commitment and none his stature as a meeting point among Hollywood, Washington, and the civil rights movement. Belafonte not only participated in protest marches and benefit concerts, but helped organize and raise support for them. He worked closely with his friend and generational peer the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., often intervening on his behalf with both politicians and fellow entertainers and helping him financially. He risked his life and livelihood and set high standards for younger Black celebrities, scolding Jay-Z and Beyonce for failing to meet their "social responsibilities," and mentoring Usher, Common, Danny Glover, and many others. In Spike Lee's 2018 film BlacKkKlansman, he was fittingly cast as an elder statesman schooling young activists about the country's past.

Belafonte's friend, civil rights leader Andrew Young, would note Belafonte was the rare person to grow more radical with age. He was ever engaged and unyielding, willing to take on Southern segregationists, Northern liberals, the billionaire Koch brothers, and the country's first Black president, Barack Obama, whom Belafonte would remember asking to cut him "some slack." Belafonte replied, "What makes you think that's not what I've been doing?" Belafonte was a major artist since the 1950s, winning a Tony Award in 1954 for his starring role in John Murray Anderson's Almanac. In 1959, he became the first Black actor to win an Emmy for the TV special Tonight With Harry Belafonte. The 1957 film Island in the Sun was banned in several Southern cities, where theater owners were threatened by the KKK due to the film's interracial romance between Belafonte and Joan Fontaine.

(More Harry Belafonte stories.)

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