Music legend refused to meet Elvis Presley as he was scared they would be photographed
On Monday’s edition of ITV’s This Morning, Cliff Richard appeared as a guest, but things quickly went downhill during his interview after he spoke about meeting Elvis Presley.
The music star was invited onto the show as a guest of honor by Sarah Ferguson (the ex-wife of Prince Andrew). However, when he got talking about his opportunity to meet iconic rock and roll singer Elvis Presley, things quickly went south.
Why didn’t Cliff Richard meet Elvis Presley?
Cliff explained to TV hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond that he had the opportunity to meet the musician but turned it down after thinking Elvis had “put on a lot of weight.”
“I had one chance [to meet him] through a journalist when I was promoting Devil Woman in the States,” Richard explained. “He said, ‘Oh, I know Elvis’ – ’cause he knew I was influenced – and he said, ‘do you want to meet him?’ and I said, ‘yeah’.”
He then got cold feet. “At the end of the interview, I said, ‘Can we put it off?’ ‘Cause he’d put on a lot of weight and I thought, ‘If I’m having a photo that I’ve taken with him and it’s gonna be hanging on my refrigerator, he’s gotta look good.’
The celebrity continued: “And I put it off and then, of course, he died.”
“If you’re a fan of somebody’s, if you get the chance, you should meet them. Even if they’ve put on weight,” he said laughing.
This earned a laugh from Alison. She joked: “Should’ve never put it off, just because they’re a little bit heavier. Is that why you don’t want me at your house? Anyway …”
People were quick to react on X (formerly Twitter) to the 83-year-old’s interview.
Another wrote: “Every single fat woman can give you at least 5 instances like the one Cliff Richard just subjected Alison Hammond to, and each time they probably laughed it off. I know I did. Because they’re not talking about you, right? Serious respect to Alison for refusing to play that game.”
“Who the hell does Cliff Richard think he is, not wanting a photo with Elvis because Elvis had put on weight? Alison Hammond gave a quick response. How bloody rude,” said one person.
Not knowing much about Elvis
Elvis was portrayed in Baz Luhrmann’s biopic last year by Austin Butler and is again returning to the big screen. This time, however, he will be played by Euphoria star Jacob Elordi.
However, the 26-year-old didn’t know much about the singer before playing him in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla. The Australian native learned about Elvis from Disney’s Lilo and Stitch.
He told Jimmy Fallon: “The most I knew of Elvis was in Lilo and Stitch” and said that the idea of playing the Jailhouse Rock singer was “terrifying.”
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