Several newsites run a story in which Elvis is portrayed as a "nazi". They use a picture of him wearing a nazi-cap and giving a nazi salute. The source is supposedly a newly discovered grainy home movie.
If the authors had done their homework they would have found out that this footage comes from footage from a boat trip Elvis made with June Junico while on holiday in 1956. The captian of the boat was a WWII vet who bought the hats as trophies. Elvis and some others put them on but in stead of giving the nazi-salut he is waving. The footage is available on the DVD "Elvis And June - A Love Story".
The response from Todd Morgan (EPE) to the few fans that have written EPE about it:
Elvis was just kidding around. Our understanding is that the hat was a World War II souvenir of the owner of the boat Elvis and his companions were riding on. It's unfortunate that the Sun tabloid chose to invent a story about it. But, that's what tabloids do.
We never contact tabloids to protest their articles because we know that will do nothing but inspire them to write a follow-up story ("What EPE Doesn't You To Know" or something silly like that) and that they would make sure the regular news media knew that we were at odds with them, which would lead to more publicity and sales for the tabloid. There is no winning with the tabloids. Unfortunately, there are no laws protecting deceased persons against libel or slander, so that means there is no legal recourse for us with anything incorrector objectionable anyone says or writes about Elvis. The law says that a deceased person is no longer in need of his reputation and, thus, cannot be a victim of libel or slander.
Sometimes tabloid stories are picked up by legitimate news media. When legitimate news media contact us about a tabloid story, we always respond to their questions. In the rare instances in which tabloid stories have gotten major coverage in the legitimate news media, we have issued formal press statements. But, so far, this Sun tabloid Elvis/Nazi article has not managed to generate any interest from the real news media that we know of. We have not received even one media inquiry. We have received only a few inquiries from fans and have responded to those.
Hopefully, this Elvis/Nazi nonsense will not receive any more attention and will go away. Soon, the tabloids will come up with something else.
The original news item:
Almost 28 years after his death, fans of the King of Rock, Elvis Presley, can now see their icon in a radically different light; that as a Nazi. The legend is seen wearing a Nazi cap and giving a Nazi salute in some pictures taken from a grainy half-hour home cine film.
The pictures, believed to be from the Sixties, were taken during a boat trip with friends and have surfaced at the same time as Presley's ex-wife Priscilla released his home movies.
"I was given it ages ago, I think when I used to own a bar. But I had never watched it. It wasn't until I found it in the loft that I decided to. When I did I was shocked," the Sun quoted Mark Ernon, who owns the tape, as saying. (ANI)
Badmouthing Elvis
May 16, 2005 | People
johnlennon wrote on
May 16, 2005
Ah, The Sun reported this. Say no more. What a rag! Terrible "newspaper".
Sean Ryan wrote on
May 16, 2005
Yeah, i saw this article and it made me mad. They have taken this footage and completely twisted it around to make Elvis seem like he was a Nazi supporter.What a load of rubbish. In fact, Elvis and his friends were just goofing around.Just cause of the documentary which is being shown this week and there are several articles about Elvis in the media , they have to STILL try and put a blackmark against his name. The only time i use the Sun newspaper any more will be as bogroll.
bossanovababy wrote on
May 16, 2005
Sean Ryan,using The Sun as toilet paper is still providing it with a job above it`s station! I`ve got this footage on video as well and it`s a load of bull droppings. Unfortunately there won`t be anyone able to force a retraction from them. Why is it always a battle to gain and maintain positive publicity! TCB
Elvis girl wrote on
May 16, 2005
As usual The Sun printing utter rubbish, i agree with Scsa etc that toilet paper is too good a use for it
Sean Ryan wrote on
May 16, 2005
Yeah, your right guys. The british gutter press. I was just upset by the way they have tried to exploit the footage. Im sure they will get alot of complaints about this. How wrong can they be?? Cameron Diaz is report to be sueing the Sun over more 'lies' they printed about her. Hope she wins. I still think the press were totally responsible for Dianas death. Talk about freedom of the press, what about freedom of the people who's lives they try and destroy??
gareth wrote on
May 16, 2005
The only problem about using the sun as toiletpaper is more poop comes off the paper.
Sean Ryan wrote on
May 16, 2005
Duh, Lex. I was talking about celebs in general, not Elvis,if you re-read my message.
Tigerman-GB wrote on
May 16, 2005
The only thing that happens if you use newspaper as toilet paper you end up backing up the toilet & hae loads more muck than you had in the first place. I suggest you hold on to articles like this one until the 5th of November & use it to light your bonfire.
byebye wrote on
May 16, 2005
In Sweden a headline on the text TV billboard was printed saying -"Elvis a nazi caught on film".
I called up the responsible person (who obviusly hoped there was a big scope going on) And asked her to see the film first before qouting The Sun. Nobody can demand of a 21 year old kid named EP to have the same view about the Germans in 1956, as most of us does in 2005.
The headline was taken out...
bray1977 wrote on
May 16, 2005
Elvis fans should boycott the sun and let them know why. Hitting them in the pocket is the only argument the gutter press understands.
pacer1965 wrote on
May 16, 2005
The sun must be running out of things to write about Elvis.What a load of rubbish
Els Gal wrote on
May 17, 2005
Here we go again - find a piece of rubbish about Elvis and print it as fact! Surely not even a "Sun" reader (I use the word loosely) could believe that Elvis, who was all of 10 when the war, ended was a Nazi? And has anyone told June Juanico that some guy called Mark Ernon is claiming her home movie footage as if it's some kind of deep, dark secret. Utter garbage, not worth even thinking about - but deeply annoying all the same! TCB
cathyreno wrote on
May 18, 2005
"I was shocked" quoted Mark Ernon,give me a break! I wonder how he has the tape I thought it belonged to eddie fadal. Wasnt it him who took the footage in the 1st place. I think they are trying to rattle us elvis fans for a reaction dont satisfy them.
Renan Augusto wrote on
May 18, 2005
Really a shame! Won´t pay attention for it but what really bothers me is Elvis image being destroyed by these worms!
Tigerman-GB wrote on
May 18, 2005
I thought the footage was filmed by Eddie Bellman, a friend of June's Mum.
cathyreno wrote on
May 18, 2005
thanks tigerman-gb I knew it was eddie someone not a bad guess from the top of my head. I only saw that piece of footage once. T C B
dzelvis wrote on
May 18, 2005
this people are idiots, theres no other way to put it, elvis a nazi? give me a break!!
Tigerman-GB wrote on
May 19, 2005
They'll be saying that he was a member of the Tali-Ban because he sometime used to wear a turban next!