The Hug Heard Round the World | Revisionist History | Malcolm Gladwell

Q: Was there a period where you felt you had something to prove? A: The first 45 years of my life.
Sammy Davis Junior was one of the world’s greatest entertainers for the better part of half a century. He was black. But he thought the best way to succeed in the world was to act as if he wasn’t. Did we judge him too harshly?
Season 3 (2018)
#podcast #revisionisthistory #malcolmgladwell
ABOUT REVISIONIST HISTORY
Revisionist History is Malcolm Gladwell’s journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood. Every podcast episode re-examines something from the past - an event, a person, an idea, even a song - and asks whether we got it right the first time. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance.
ABOUT MALCOLM GLADWELL
Malcolm Gladwell is president and co-founder of Pushkin Industries. He is a journalist, a speaker, and the author of six New York Times bestsellers including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, David and Goliath, and Talking to Strangers. He has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1996. He is a trustee of the Surgo Foundation and currently serves on the board of the RAND Corporation.
ABOUT PUSHKIN INDUSTRIES
Pushkin Industries is an audio production company dedicated to creating premium content in a collaborative environment. Co-founded by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg in 2018, Pushkin has launched seven new shows into the top 10 on Apple Podcasts (Against the Rules, The Happiness Lab, Solvable, Cautionary Tales, Deep Cover, The Last Archive, and Lost Hills), in addition to producing the hugely successful Revisionist History. Pushkin’s growing audiobook catalogue includes includes the bestselling biography “Fauci,” by Michael Specter, “Hasta La Vista, America,” Kurt Andersen’s parody Trump farewell speech performed by Alec Baldwin, "Takeover" by Noah Feldman, and “Talking to Strangers,” from Pushkin co-founder Malcolm Gladwell. Pushkin is dedicated to producing audio in any format that challenges listeners and inspires curiosity and joy.
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[@lindascanlan6317]

"The token succeeds at the cost of his own dignity" - gee...there's not much more to say. You're brilliant.

[@benjaminkowal7310]

He was as an immigrant in his own country. I see nothing to judge except exceptional bravery and ceilings broken to pieces by a master of his art.

[@lyonellaverde3135]

Malcolm's podcast is so good it needs no graphics.

[@lindascanlan6317]

Agree

[@L33PL4Y]

But it has graphics

[@kellycasperhanson4426]

👍Excellent accounting of the complexities of racial identity and the need for belonging in the life of Sammy Davis, Jr. This will definitely stick with me for a long time. (Especially the roast 😱.)

[@jackdeath]

I remember Sammy kissing Archie Bunker on _All in the Family._ That must have been the kiss seen 'round the world.

[@kambrose1549]

That Roast was horrific. It was entirely about race. With friends like that Sammy Davis Jr didn't need enemies. 😢

[@pamgallagher9778]

It was horrible and they should all feel total shame.

[@alnoorhkassam]

I was born in Kenya as a brown Asian person in 1956 during what was apartheid. This revisionist history resonates a lot with me as I have many times in my life been the one sole minority in a majority ……the research about the women in the work place makes a lot of sense . Thanks for producing such high quality , well researched material . I love your books , but these are better and how i believe more and more people will get their knowledge

[@buster9106]

I was born in '62. My memory is of Davis singing "The Candy Man" which was highly popular though apparently Davis detested the song. I'm shocked and horrified by the jokes made at that roast.

[@planetarysolidarity]

I remember that hug and how I felt punched in the gut, even as a white kid. Thank you for making sense out of that confusing moment.

[@edwardwong654]

That was painful to listen to. Whether you agree with what Sammy had to do, he paved the way for others to follow. And I am sure it was very painful process for him and ate at his soul. Kudos to Sammy, and another excellent pod from Malcolm. Pushkin.

[@kathleenmckenzie6261]

Louis Armstrong was another among many black performers whose public faces hid enormous pain, resentment and anger. Like Sammy, he never spoke of it, unlike some of his peers.

[@user-qr9uh1fd8g]

Brilliant Sammy Davis Jr , i love to see tap dancers and I like his music; this makes me cry.

[@user-qr9uh1fd8g]

His voice is so beautiful and I did not know about politics

[@user-qr9uh1fd8g]

I always admired Sammy Davis Jr and appreciate his talents. I didn't know anything else about him.

[@pamgallagher9778]

Thank you, Malcolm Gladwell, for this. Education and knowledge heals sometimes. As author Anne Lamott writes, "Grace always bats last." You are that Grace.

[@xvsj5833]

Great content and a painful reminder there is no room in today’s society for racism ❤✌️

[@sammydavisvideovault8302]

When Ginger Rogers died someone said she did everything Fred Astaire did, but had to do it backwards and in hi-heels. That's how I think of Sammy Davis. He was just as brash as Sinatra, but Sammy's brashness might lead to his death. Sinatra never had to carry the hopes, fears, or anger of every Italian American on his back being their role model and champion, while trying to grow his own personal career. Both Blacks and whites felt they had a vote in who Sammy was friends with, dated, and married. Who else do we hold to that standard regardless of color? After MLK, RFK, & Malcom were dead, Sammy felt working from the inside was the quickest route to gaining civil rights gains, so he worked with the president in office. Sammy wasn't alone in supporting Nixon. Nixon won 49 states, I don't think Sammy's support could swing THAT many votes. Yes, Sammy sang I've Gotta Be Me because singing Get the F Off My Back wouldn't have sold many records. Before we judge Sammy, we each need to ask ourselves if we lived in his time and place, could we have done better or done more for all people?

[@hermanhaditrumph5260]

Love everything you do - thank you

[@Ubernerd3000]

You’ve gotta work 3x as hard for 1/3 the credit: The Sammy Davis Jr Story…😢😢😢

[@AH-wr1ir]

This is a fascinating and brilliant documentary; an uncomfortable journey back into the recent and shocking past and then forward to the present day for MG's surprising and important perspective. Thank you!

[@L33PL4Y]

I'm listening to all the episodes in release order, and this my favorite episode so far. Brilliant.

[@carloschang6279]

Great content. May I suggest a part 2 with Clarence Thomas…

[@pohkeee]

Absolutely!

[@lreadlResurrected]

Sammy's autobiography, "Why Me?" When I was in high school I read what I thought was his autobiography, but it was called "Yes I Can". These two titles would seem to be in conflict insofar as autobiographical state of mind.

[@lindascanlan6317]

I read it back then and remember feeling so angry and frustrated it caused me to cry. ..

[@MissyGail4eva]

4 of your segments just popped up in my feed, so I'm beginning at this very moment with this first suggestion. I'm 2 minutes in, and I have a feeling that I'll have indulged in a few more before dawn.. fingers crossed that I'm correct (I _usually_ am..lol). Subscribed. \(ϋ)/ oh, btw.. stopped midway through to check out the SDJ/GH tap off (always was a Pack Rat), and you weren't wrong.. for that glorious memory alone, I thank you.

[@maxwithanaxe713]

Dividing people into categories is very dangerous path, be it black and white or men and women.

[@pavanatanaya]

Sammy was Clarence Thomas' minstrel show

[@lindascanlan6317]

Excellent characterization

[@MrTeff999]

Such is the nature of a roast. As Sammy said, if they didn’t love you….

[@robertpembroke8902]

The Melbourne Lava Bubble Joke Decades ago a friend of mine in Melbourne told me the story of, The Big Lava Bubble of Melbourne Joke. There is a story that Melbourne City is built on top of an underground volcano containing lava tubes. It was thought that one day the volcano would surface and there would be a big volcano cone just beside Flinders Street Station. Some people became hysterical about it and removed all the lava lamps from all the shops in Melbourne. It was very difficult to get a lava lamp because people believed that the lava lamp was a projection of the volcanic activity under Melbourne. If there were too many lava lamps in Melbourne then the volcano under Melbourne might erupt and create a series of lava racks (.i.e., Lavarack Barracks) under the city. And yes the dementia patients are banging away on the walls right now like they're trying to get rid of rats or awaken the neighbor. The hypotheses in this Madhatter Joke might be that there is a Joke and then it is proceeded by an elemental event vis a vis Volcanic activity then removal of Lava Lamps as eccentricity of enforced consumerism like volcano eruption and then removal of toilet paper signing belief that bottom activity creates volcanic activity vis a vis Macro Micro or vice versa;) kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3PLfYBur8-AZ7M

[@benhills1340]

Why was he a member of the Rat Pack? Also, who was Peter Lawford?

[@oldgymrat71]

I think it is interesting that Uncle Tom was not the anti-negro that the characters name now represents. It is based on a misunderstanding of the character since the beguinning.

[@wendylafauce5618]

Haywood seems to have it out for Davis. Davis made it possible for succeed on the same playing field. Does that make every African American who succeeded after Sammy a "house N'?

[@drakewinwest9888]

Holy shit so Candance Owens is just a modern day Sammy Davis Jr? 😅😂😢

[@pohkeee]

without the talent or intelligence!

[@jaimejaimeChannel]

I don't find a photo of SAMMY DAVIS JR HUGS NIXON on Google Images.

[@lindagarland5223]

I love your version of History (revisionist). Thank you. But... Sorry but I'd rather hear Mr. Bojangles by songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker!!

[@willmpet]

Sammy Davis Junior was the fastest at QuickDraw in Hollywood.

[@lindascanlan6317]

The "roast" is hard to listen to...especially Foster Brooks that slapped ass....this is painful.....

[@theresaast7049]

Very paonful ,,, and heart-breaking.

[@xaviernavy]

Here because of Theo… Gang bruh.

[@Edo9River]

I know a dozen black role models whom Sammy can’t see because of his sun glasses, because I sold Ebony Success Libraries in Texarkana Ark. this is so pitiful 😂 Malcolm you have resurrected the corpse of memories which should be kept buried. Because the smell iis so baaaaaaaaaaad😂!!!

[@Edo9River]

As a member of a certain radical college group, I hated Sammy. And all the black brothers spit on his name.

[@marymetzler2705]

The 1975 roast is disgusting. Dean Martin, closet latino, should have known better.

[@Edo9River]

Malcolm how do know all this was fact, these character references could be fake news

[@Ghost-dv8lq]

I love your show, fellow Canadian; however, this wasn’t your best work. It leaned heavily on some questionable presuppositions and took an axe swing to Sammy’s agency. I have complicated thoughts about it, but this is a KZbin comment, not an essay, so the scope of my critique is limited. Obviously some of this podcast is filled with your usual brand of insightfulness, but I think that it was coloured by some of your personal biases in regards to race, especially in the realm of the idea of “selling out”. I’m normally moved by your podcasts, this one had me cringing throughout. Well, as Jay Z says, “On to the next one.” Looking forward to it 😊

[@Redmenace96]

A good story, and MG presents his opinion, but I hope people know there are two ways of looking at this. MG is characterizing and guiding you into an opinion. Notice he introduces Richard Nixon to younger listeners by listing all of the worst things he has done. Yet, he introduces the words of Malcolm X with no commentary. Malcolm X was no saint, and he spent most of his life as an anti-white racist and con man. His views and words were just as damaging and as unfair and as venal as Nixon's.

[@kauffner]

Do we know what Malcolm X thought about Davis? If we don't, it seems odd to gives his views so much play.