US civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. allegedly “looked on and laughed” as a Baptist minister friend raped a woman, according to FBI records accessed by an American historian.
Writing in a piece due to be published shortly in Britain’s Standpoint magazine, King biographer and historian David Garrow said he came across the accusation in FBI summaries of archived agency tapes still held under court seal, the Sunday Times writes.
Garrow also reportedly found sordid details from FBI recordings made when it bugged King’s room at a Washington hotel in 1964, including that he had affairs with dozens of women. One of the memos based on the tapes claims the civil rights leader joked to his friends that he “had started the ‘International Association for the Advancement of P***y-Eaters.’”
In an editorial explaining its decision to publish Garrow’s claims, Standpoint described King as “the Harvey Weinstein of the civil rights movement.”
Twitter users weren’t sure what to make of the outrageous claims, with some suggesting it might be time to take down memorials honoring King, with others suggesting it’s a poor attempt at character assassination.
A number of commenters wondered if his statues would be removed now like monuments to the Civil War South generals, especially as the accusations hit a nerve with the movement against sexual harassment.
While some expressed shock over the revelations, others commented that the fact that King was no saint is well-known.
While others were outraged over the smearing campaign.