(Read “Imelda Marcos Almost Gets the Beatles Killed Part 1” first.)
Hear what the Fab Four had to say about their brush with death in Manila:
*For other related posts on this site, see:
“Imelda Marcos: 2000 Shoes”
“Ferdinand Marcos’ Restless Corpse”
“Imelda Being Imeldific*”
It was extrememly unfortunate that the Beatles had to be treated that bad after the concert in Manila. Blame of course were attributed to the guy or guys around the fav four who might have indeed received the Marcoses’ invitation earlier but took the invitation for granted and without informing anyone of the Beatles. To say that the Beatles could not be disturbed because of travel and peformance fatigue was in itself already a bad answer to an invitation from the country’s leaderdhip. I’m sure the Beatles, if only were informed, would have granted Mrs. Marcos’ invitation by appearing at the Presidential residence even just for an hour.
The roughing up on the Beatles as I believed then, was also an offshot of John Lennon’s pronoucement in Manila that they the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. That pronouncement ignited some sort of disappointments and disgusts not only to the religious Filipinos but also to christians all over the world. I still remember it was the American fans in the states that started burning records and other related items of the Beatles.
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John’s remark was published in a London periodical, Datebook, in late July, a month after the Philippines concert debacle:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842611,00.html
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Actually it was March 1966 with Maureen Cleave for the London Evening Standard. Datebook quoted Lennon’s comments in August, after the Manila trip in early July. Either way, it still had nothing to do with Manila.
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Beatlesfan – Lennon’s remark comparing the popularity of the Beatles to Jesus was not made in Manila and had nothing to do with what was going on during their visit there. That comment was made in an interview in England months earlier (see link below). The poor treatment to the Beatles can be 100% attributed to dictator Ferdinand and First Lady Imelda Marcos, his wife. They are the ones who orchestrated all that went wrong. Who else could make the police escort disappear, or censor the aired interview, etc, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_popular_than_Jesus
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no one to be blamed except for the guys who manage the beatles..we cannot blame the beatles nor the filipinos on this matter….charge it to miscommunication…
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Why can’t we blame the Filipinos for the police state m.o.?
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When you say Filipinos you are referring to the whole population. Didn’t you know that it was a dictator’s ruling that controlled the country at that time, which was overturned later by the FIlipinos because of abuse? It was even called “people power” that rebelled against Marcos regime. It was the government of that time, not the whole people! You got judgement issues. You generalize and induce people on hating a whole race. Shame on you.
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Bong, I refer the Filipinos in this comment as the ones who caused the whole problem, not the population altogether. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I have many faithful Filipino readers and I respect them.
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Yes, it was Filipinos. Sure there may have been a few who were Beatles fans and had nothing to do with it. However, think from their side. The TV was blasting them, the newspapers blasted them, the military was manhandling them, the police escorts disappeared, they had their concert earnings stolen, they already heard previously it was an awful place (but went there anyway), the airport people snubbed them, they were roughed up, they were spit on, death threats at the hotel, the british embassy was threatened, their car was attacked with protestors, and what else.
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The Beatles should have put their collective feet down AGAINST going to Japan and the Philippines right from the start. Then the angry mob would not have been able to harm them.
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Now that Imelda is no longer in power, why not sue for damages. Don’t let her get off the hook. The stunt she pulled off sometime 1966 was a grave abuse of power.
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Growing up during the Marcos regime, I really do buy the story that Imelda Marcos had the Beatles almost beaten up. She lost face in front of her cronies and socialite friends at the party. Its absolutely normal to strike back, and as the wife of a terrible dictator, you would want to crush your enemies. I say the Beatles were lucky they didnt get imprisoned and tortured right then and there. The Filipinos are really touchy and petty when it comes to their national pride. Its ironic, really, because all they want to be, is white. Infact, filipinas go after white foreign males to be their husbands/meal ticket so they can alter their gene pool and skin whitening products is big business here.
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Two points:
1. The Phillipines were a dictatorship supported as ever by the USA and its allies, UK the first.
2. At that time, not only The Beatles were more popular than JC but The Television too.
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