Walk of Fame’s Rejection of Gaye Fuels Controversy

What’s going on?

That’s what Marvin Gaye fans have wanted to know ever since the Hollywood Walk of Fame committee voted down a petition filed on the late singer’s behalf for a spot on the sidewalk of the stars.

The rejection has sparked controversy in the black music community, which has long regarded Gaye--who was shot to death by his father in April, 1984--as an icon.

In a full-page editorial in last week’s issue of Black Radio Exclusive, a widely read black radio trade publication, publisher Sidney Miller argued: “How can it be possible that a Mary Hart of ‘Entertainment Tonight’ is considered worthy of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, while a man who is considered one of the seminal figures of contemporary music is not?”

Others were even more outspoken.

Ron Brewington, Los Angeles bureau chief of the Sheridan Broadcasting network, which supplies news and entertainment features to 350 urban contemporary radio stations around the country, said that black performers have been shortchanged in the Walk of Fame voting process. He noted that black performers account for fewer than 50 of the 1,896 stars that have been awarded to date.

“I’m not trying to make a racial thing out of it, but you wonder, what does it take to get a star?” said Brewington, who has organized a committee to push for a star for Gaye next year.

Michael Mitchell, national publicity director for Motown Records, for which Gaye recorded 39 Top 40 hits between 1963 and 1977, said that Motown submitted Gaye’s name to the Walk of Fame committee in April in hopes of landing one of the two posthumous stars that are awarded each year. But Gaye was bypassed in the June voting. The two posthumous stars went instead to composer John Philip Sousa and ‘50s rock star Ritchie Valens.

Johnny Grant, chairman of the Walk of Fame committee, denied that blacks have been discriminated against in the Walk of Fame balloting.

“I’ve never seen a voting session where color entered into it,” he said. “That’s another thing that they always bring up, but it just isn’t true. I’m almost tired of defending (against) it.”

Grant noted that Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. and Motown mainstays Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie have been approved for stars, but that their presentations haven’t been scheduled yet. He said that the same is true of several other black performers, including Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Diahann Carroll, the Fifth Dimension and Ben Vereen.

Speaking of Gaye, Grant said: “There is no question he deserves and will get a star, he just didn’t make it the first time. Very few people ever do.”