"I asked him what did Dr. King think of the celebrity participation in the movement. He said that Dr King welcomed it because it helped give the movement more attention. Then he added a bonus by including stories of two of my other favorite singers who tragically, like Dr. King, died young themselves. I was astonished when the name Elvis Presley came up. Contrary to what some people believe, I never thought Elvis was racist. I knew that Elvis grew up poor and was heavily influenced by Black musicians. I even heard stories from other people that Elvis admired Dr. King. What I didn't know was that Elvis and Dr. King talked occasionally on the phone. Elvis even contributed money through various channels that filtered to the civil rights movement. Charles Evers, the brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, confirmed this as well. When Dr. King was killed in Memphis, Elvis was said to not just have been upset about Dr. King's death, but he was even more hurt that it happened in his hometown and just a stone's throw away from his Graceland estate. Elvis even inquired about attending Dr. King's funeral in Atlanta, but was talked out of it by others citing that he may be a distraction; it would delay filming and increase budget costs (and other security concerns because nobody could be certain that a riot may break out at the funeral at the time. Instead Elvis watched the funeral from his on-location trailer. According to his co-star at the time Celeste Yarnell who watched the proceeding with Elvis in his trailer, Elvis "felt a tremendous brotherhood with the black community because he grew up poor and he knew what it was like to live in poverty.He was also proud that many blacks embraced him as one of their own."