“I don’t want anyone to become famous”: Elvis’ controversial instructions if he was ever assassinated
The most iconic moments in music, and any form of art for that matter, always turn out to be some of the most controversial. One of the most classic examples of this comes from when Elvis Presley took to the stage during The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, delivering a performance that would shock households nationwide and completely change how people viewed live performances.
The year was 1956, when views were much more conservative than they are now, and the job of a singer was to do exactly that… sing. Some more flamboyant performers steadily set the foundation for rock ‘n’ roll, but this kind of performance hadn’t made it into the mainstream just yet—that is, until Elvis Presley came along.
Elvis took to the stage that night with a performance in mind that would rock the world to its core, something that got hearts pumping and blood racing and didn’t leave much to the imagination. A whopping 82% of Americans tuned in to watch him perform ‘Don’t Be Cruel’, and about half were left wishing they hadn’t.
For many, Elvis’ flamboyant, gyrating style was too much. It was deemed unsightly and overtly sexual, to the point that his performance received a barrage of different complaints from those watching. Despite the fact that Ed Sullivan sang Elvis’ praises after the show, describing him as a “real decent, fine boy,” adding, “We’ve never had a pleasanter experience with a big name than we’ve had with you,” a lot of the viewers weren’t happy.
Elvis was already successful before taking to the stage on the Ed Sullivan Show, but his performance that night cemented him as the newfound kind of rock ‘n’ roll. The genre would be at the forefront of controversy for decades and as the pioneer of it. At the same time, there were millions of people obsessed with Elvis Presley, and millions despised The King for his contributions to this rebellious sound.
As many rock stars will be able to attest, when you get enough attention, threats to your life will become a common occurrence. Some celebrities have been unable to escape these threats, for instance, John Lennon, who was sadly murdered at the hands of Mark Chapman. “I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was evil,” said Chapman after shooting John Lennon in the back four times, “My big answer to everything: I wasn’t going to be a nobody anymore.”
Elvis was also no stranger to threats being made on his life; in fact, they became a somewhat common occurrence. These became so common that Elvis once decided to take to the stage with a gun tucked into his waist. If he was ever shot at, he always intended on shooting the person back, and if he were to ever get killed, he provided his bodyguards with harrowing instructions on what they needed to do.
Celebrity biographer Chris Hutchins once wrote about this. “If anyone fired him, he intended to shoot back,” he wrote, “And, in the event that he was killed, he had ordered his bodyguards to shoot the assassin before the police moved in. ‘I don’t want anyone to become famous for shooting Elvis Presley’, he said.”
