Stevie Wonder’s Oscar Speech Got Him Banned 🎤 On Oscar night 1985, Stevie Wonder won Best Original Song for a love ballad, then dedicated the award to the imprisoned Nelson Mandela. Within a day, South Africa’s state broadcaster banned his music. But this was no spur-of-the-moment gesture. Weeks earlier, Wonder had been arrested outside the South African embassy in Washington, and he later turned down a very substantial sum to perform in South Africa. This is the full untold story of how a pop superstar put his career on the line for a stranger in a prison cell, why the ban backfired, and how it connects to his fight for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Mandela’s freedom in 1990. 🏆 Follow Black History Unfiltered for more stories they never taught you. 📚 SOURCES FOR THIS VIDEO: The Washington Post (March 27, 1985), “S. Africa Bans Wonder’s Music” - the Oscar dedication and the broadcast ban UPI Archives (March 26, 1985), “Singer Stevie Wonder was banned Tuesday from South Africa’s...” - the “ban me mega-times” quote UPI Archives (September 18, 1985), “Stevie Wonder back on South African airwaves” - the ban lifted after six months Reuters/NBC archive footage (February 14, 1985), “USA: Stevie Wonder arrested outside South African embassy” - the arrest UN Special Committee against Apartheid, 566th meeting summary record, A/AC.115/SR.566 (May 13, 1985), and UN News, “Stories from the UN Archive: Stevie Wonder sounds a note against apartheid” - the “very substantial sum” and “I really don’t mind being banned” South African History Online, “21 November 1984,” and University of Michigan LSA, “In the Interest of Justice” - the Free South Africa Movement Library of Congress, “Song Stories: Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday” (2023), and WBUR (2016) - the MLK holiday campaign Nelson Mandela Foundation archive, Item 0501, and “Commemorating 18 Years of Freedom” (2008) - the ban and Mandela’s release Every claim in this video is backed by archives and records. We don’t make this up. We uncover what was buried. 🔥 Comment “hero” or “stay in your lane” and defend it. #StevieWonder, #NelsonMandela, #BlackHistory, #BlackHistoryUnfiltered, #Apartheid, #Oscars, #MandelaDay, #HistoryUncovered, #UntoldHistory, #BlackHistoryFacts, #CivilRightsHistory, #MLKDay, #MusicHistory, #1985, #SouthAfrica, #FreeSouthAfrica, #Motown, #HistoryFacts, #DidYouKnow, #Viral, #FacebookReels, #Reels, #ExplorePage, #Educational, #Legend, #MusicLegend, #BlackExcellence, #ActivistArtist, #Resistance, #LearnOnFacebook Stevie Wonder, Stevie Wonder Oscar 1985, Stevie Wonder Nelson Mandela, Stevie Wonder banned South Africa, I Just Called to Say I Love You, Stevie Wonder apartheid, Stevie Wonder arrested embassy, It’s Wrong Apartheid, Free South Africa Movement, Nelson Mandela history, apartheid history, Stevie Wonder activism, Black history facts, untold Black history, Stevie Wonder MLK holiday, Happy Birthday Stevie Wonder, 1985 Oscars, Stevie Wonder story, Black history unfiltered, celebrity activism history - @blackhistoryunfilteredd