The Big Beat scandal
 The Big Beat scandal was a national television controversy in the United States, mainly concerned with the racial issue focusing on Black American and White individuals dancing interracially while The Big Beat was broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) Network, which was hosted by Alan Freed.

 History 
The Big Beat was the first interracial teen show broadcast in New York City which was debuted on May 4, 1957. On July 19 same year, New York-based American black teen singer Frankie Lymon was dancing with a white girl, causing the outrage in TV stations at the Southern states. In the Southern states, racial segregation was "still in effect" since the civil rights movement was at its earliest stages. Few weeks after the incident, the show was immediately cancelled after four episodes. Therefore, the ABC executives "buckled under the pressure."

Following the incident regarding interracial dance between Frankie Lymon and a white girl, Freed was often featured in magazines and newspapers which he wore "bright scarlet tuxedos or outsized window-plaid sport coats punctuated with a wispy silk bow tie favored by African American or white hillbilly artists." Therefore, Freed was fired from the ABC.

According to an American Bandstand producer to New York Post, the interracial dance between Frankie Lymon and a white girl "contributed to American Bandstand's segregation." It is also revealed that The Milt Grant Show faced similar issues two months prior to the following incident.

Regardless of the controversies among Southern Americans who were working in TV stations, Freed was inducted along with Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame "in its very first class" in 1986 because he promoted the interracial dance.

It appears that the clip of final episode does not exist, but the audio files remain online.

See also
 The Big Beat (TV program)

References

External links
 Spots and Auditions at Alan Freed's official website.

Category:1957 scandals
Category:Scandals in the United States
Category:Racism in the United States
Category:Frankie Lymon