WI: The KKK killed The Beatles?

August 19, 1966 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee, a bomb went off during the Beatles concert killing all 4 members and those close to the stage. Soon it was discovered that some members of the KKK had orchestrated the assassination and were put jail for their crimes.

"I never would've seen that coming, I knew about the burnings but, I didn't think people would get that upset." -Elvis Aron Presley 1986

How does this affect pop culture? How would the British invasion be changed?

(Maybe their death butterflies Elvis')
 
and what possible reason could they have for doing this...in theory could see them doing this to a concert where white kids listening to a black group but...
 
The moralistic '20s prohibition KKK maybe, but less so the '50s-'60s segregation forever crowd.

Maybe if they just thought all rock music was mongrelized race music, and the Bealtes were the easiest target for them to hit. Or, they wanted the most high-profile victims, OR they were absolutely incensed over Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" remarks.

But, otherwise, yeah, I don't think the Beatles were really on the far-right's radar to the extent that you'd have an organized plot to kill them. Maybe if some lone-nut racist developed an obsession with them for his own reasons(eg. his girlfriend left him for a black guy after she started listening to the Fab Four), and carried something out on his own.
 
and what possible reason could they have for doing this...in theory could see them doing this to a concert where white kids listening to a black group but...
If I remember correctly the Beatles threatened to pull out of any show that had a segregated arena/theater/whatever. As a result all of their shows were integrated so far as I know. So I think there was some OTL anger by racists towards them.
 
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Is this based on an actual plot?

No plot, but there were threats (including one from a Klansman) and a brief scare onstage:

"On August 19th 1966, The Beatles flew to Memphis Tennessee for two shows at Mid-South Coliseum, the 8th stop along their 1966 North American tour.

"John Lennon's misquoted remarks earlier in the year about the current state of Christianity had caused tensions, especially in the southern states: Protests, record burnings organized by christian radio stations, and anonymous death threats, including a televised threat against the Beatles from a local Memphis Ku Klux Klan member.

"While there were no issues with the afternoon Memphis performance, hearts stopped as someone threw an exploding firecracker on-stage during the Beatles' evening concert. Reportedly, the noise sounded at first like a gun shot, shocking everyone who heard it.

"Beatles' Press Officer Tony Barrow would later recall: "Once we did get down to that area, the southern states... a firecracker was let off during the concert in Memphis and everybody, all of us at the side of the stage, including the three Beatles on stage, all looked immediately at John Lennon. We would not at that moment have been surprised to see that guy go down. John had half-heartedly joked about the Memphis concert in an earlier press conference, and when we got there everything seemed to be controlled and calm, but underneath somehow, there was this nasty atmosphere. It was a very tense and pressured kind of day."

"News of the 'Jesus statement' controversy in America had reached home, and ITV had flown from London to Memphis to interview the group backstage at Mid-South Coliseum."...

http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1966.0819.beatles.html
 
It would shake the baby boom generation to its foundations and is the defining moment of their childhood/teen/young adult years. Much of the energy of the then still nascent antiwar movement goes into fighting racism as well as the war. Also, the Klan has committed suicide as any kind of political force. It is dead as a doornail going forward. It probably is a shot in the arm for other British music acts (The Who, Stones, etc.) in record sales but they don't tour, at least in the South. Where they do, security is strict. And it's another really dark moment in the 1960s, though I suspect it butterflies away the 1968 assassinations as stronger security protocols surround all public figures.
 
I remember hearing a story that the Stones went into a diner with some black women. They were quickly warned to leave or they'd be killed. Maybe something similar happens here?
 
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