Elvis Made a Comment to His Audience That Was so ‘Embarrassing’ the Room Went Silent

Elvis Presley often chatted casually to his audience during performances. He spoke about his family, his interests, and life in general. During one show, he put the attention on his background singers. After a series of insulting comments that landed awkwardly with the crowd, the singers walked off the stage.

Elvis insulted his backup singers in front of his audience

During a concert in 1975, Elvis introduced his backup singer, Kathy Westmoreland, to the audience. He had an on and off again relationship with her, and they were in an off period. 

“She will take affection from anybody, any place, any time,” he frequently said about her, per the book Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick. “In fact, she gets it from the whole band.”

While introducing his backing group, The Sweet Inspirations, he said, “Their breath smells like they have been eating catfish.” The Sweet Inspirations was a group made up of Black women, and he appeared to be making a jab about soul food. These comments, coupled with the fact that Elvis told the women that if they didn’t like it they could get off the stage, shocked the audience.

“There was a shock in the audience. You could have heard a pin drop,” bodyguard Dave Hebler said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “Damn, it was so damn embarrassing just to hear it, I wanted to dive into a big hole. First Estelle of the Inspirations starts to cry, then Sylvia, another of the group, starts to cry. They both walk off the stage in tears. Then Kathy gets up, very distraught, and walks off. The audience just doesn’t know what to do. It was mass embarrassment.”

He did not want to apologize for his comments

Myrna Smith was the only backup singer who remained on the stage for the remainder of the show. Elvis finished the performance, but he wasn’t happy about it. In the car ride from the venue, Elvis ranted to his entourage.

“We get in the car to go to the motel,” Hebler said. “In the car is Red, me, Dick Grob, Joe Esposito, Elvis, and he had this blond-haired girl friend from Georgia. The scene is maniacal. We’re all talking at once to calm him down, get the thing straightened out. But, I promise you, he had gone completely off his head with rage.”

They told him he had to apologize, but Elvis refused.

“He wouldn’t apologize,” his friend Jerry Schilling said. “He wanted me to be his emissary, but I said, ‘No, Elvis, I think this one is yours.’ He said, ‘To hell with them. Myrna can just come out with me. Who needs the Sweets in the show anyway?’”

Ultimately, he smoothed things over enough to continue performing with The Sweet Inspirations and Westmoreland.

Elvis often chatted to his audience

Elvis chatted so much with his audience that he was able to put out an entire album of his asides, Having Fun With Elvis on Stage. While his label put out the record, his audience would have preferred him to sing.

“There have been actual shows that he has done that he can’t remember,” his bodyguard Sonny West said. “The audience must know something is going on. Sometimes, he gets up there and talks and talks to the audience instead of singing. He will give his philosophies on life, and it’s very boring. People go there to see the old Elvis magic.”