More popular than Jesus expressed regret on behalf of the group that "people with certain religious beliefs should have been offended in any way". Epstein's efforts had little effect, as the controversy quickly spread beyond the borders of the US. In Mexico City there were demonstrations against the group, and a number of countries, including South Africa and Spain, made the decision to ban the Beatles' music on national radio stations. The Vatican issued a public denouncement of Lennon's comments. The Beatles left for their US tour on 11 August 1966. According to Lennon's wife, Cynthia, he was nervous and upset that he had
An Evening with Fred Astaire "Another Evening with Fred Astaire". Not all media coverage was so positive however. After the show won an unprecedented nine Emmy awards, Ed Sullivan queried whether Astaire should have been awarded the Best Actor Award. Astaire promptly offered to return the award protesting: "I'm an actor, and this Emmy is for a performance by an actor, isn't it? When I do a difficult pantomime in a dance which tells a story, what do they think it is? Tiddlywinks?". He kept the award, but when "Variety" reported that MCA had lost $75,000 on the show he retorted angrily: "Kindly retract erroneous