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Lena Horne - Racist Epithets (Set the Night on Fire: LA in the Sixties"
1media/Screen Shot 2023-03-27 at 12.22.33 PM_thumb.png2023-03-27T19:25:33+00:00Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a4911"It was 1960 in Beverly Hills and Lena Horne had had enough. The world renowned singer and actress was trying to enjoy an evening out with her husband when a man at the next table began making racial slurs. According to Horne, the man, an engineering executive named Harvey St. Vincent, looked Horne up and down and said, “So that’s Lena Horne, huh? Well, she’s just another black nigger to me. All niggers look alike to me, and there ain’t nothing they can do for me.” Horne was outraged. She told him to stop. When St. Vincent continued his tirade, Horne picked up an ashtray and threw it at him. Then she threw dishes. And a hurricane lamp. St. Vincent escaped mostly unscathed, save for a small cut above his left eye. Horne was unrepentant. “I really don’t like to make scenes like that,” she said, “but sometimes people push you too far.” Fans began filling Horne’s mailbox with letters of support. St. Vincent claimed the attack was unprovoked. But Horne’s manager, Ralph Harris had no doubt about what had gone on. “She’s the most wonderful woman I have ever known,” he said. “If she did it, he had it coming.” - Mike Davis, Jon Wienerplain2023-03-27T19:25:33+00:001960Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a49