Talk:Dick Gregory/Archive 1

Clean up
I did a good deal of cleaning up on this article, although I'm sure there were some things I missed. If anyone feels like going back through the article and seeing if I missed anything and then possibly removing the cleanup tag, I'd appreciate it. Gorovich 18:14, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Missing information
As an activist and politician, this article is seriously lacking in specific examples of his accomplishments and political platform/views. Ancjr 10:13, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Uh... Astronaut?
Richard "Dick" Claxton Gregory, (born October 12, 1932) is an African American comedian, social activist, writer, entrepreneur, conspiracy theorist, nutritionist, professional boxer, astronaut, playwright, and juggler.

Any proof of this? 77.46.182.28 17:15, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

"the first comedian to successfully perform for both black and white audiences" ?
What a strange claim, that Dick Gregory was "the first comedian to successfully perform for both black and white audiences" -- what about Bert Williams, Mantan Moreland, and the dozens whose careers came bewofre his? Who were the UNsuccessful performers the author fails to mention? Any? many? I admire Dick Gregory greatly, but that statement needs a citation -- or a re-write. 64.142.90.32 (talk) 09:56, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

"finest minds in alternative medicine, [...], and modern devices not even known to the public"
The article says: ''In 2001, Gregory announced to the world that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of Cancer. He refused traditional medical treatment – chemotherapy –and with the assistance of some of the finest minds in alternative medicine, put together a regimen of a variety of diet, vitamins, exercise, and modern devices not even known to the public, which ultimately resulted in his reversing the trend of the Cancer to the point where today he is nearly 85% free of it, and getting better every day.''

This paragraph shows what is wrong with this article, and I'm not even talking about the style of it, which is poor for a wiki article, but the statements and facts contained within. Cancer is not treated exclusively with chemotherapy, nor is it "traditional medical treatment", it is medical treatment. The sentence about the finest minds of alternative medicine would at least need a citation needed added to it, and what the heck are modern devices not even known to the public supposed to be? And to whom are these known? The inner circle of woo-woo? Where is the proof that these devices, along with diet, vitamins and exercise, are the cause for his healing? Is he healing? From what cancer? 15% cancerous cells can surely not be considered healthy.

Now let us condense this:

''In 2001, Gregory announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer; he allegedly refused medical treatment and opted instead to use a specific diet and devices of an undisclosed nature, which are allegedly only known to a select few. His body is 15% cancerous and allegedly this figure would be even higher without the help of woo-woo devices. [Citation needed]''

-- M —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.47.147.200 (talk) 21:36, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm going to be bold and take a cue from WP:BLP:
 * "Unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material about living persons — whether the material is negative, positive, or just questionable — should be removed immediately and without waiting for discussion, from Wikipedia articles, talk pages, user pages, and project space."
 * and remove this unsourced contentious material about this living person. TJRC (talk) 22:09, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree with what you say about how this was referenced and presented, however, I don't think it should just be deleted since that period of Gregory's life is notable. I have edited this a bit to remove the woo-woo factor and added references. I think that this version fits WP:BLP. Please review when you have a chance and make changes if you feel they are warranted. If you still think this should be removed, please discuss briefly first. Thanks Bob98133 (talk) 15:43, 13 December 2008 (UTC)


 * It wasn't an issue of notability; it was an issue of verifiability. With no sources, it should definitely have been deleted. I have no problem with the sourced portion you've replaced it with. TJRC (talk) 17:03, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

A new record for weasel words?
Seldom have I seen so many weasel words in a WP entry. To wit: "Gregory...came to be called the 'Black Mort Sahl' after the popular white social satirist. Friends of Gregory have always referred to Mort Sahl as the 'White Dick Gregory'." Sorry, but on WP, nobody "comes to be called" anything. The only legitimate "callings" must be done by noteworthy individuals or groups, and must be documented by name and citation. Or "They are all highly respected members of the national community in a variety of fields", "...the Slim-Safe Bahamian Diet...was immensely profitable", etc. This sort of stuff must be properly referenced, or cut out. Hence, I'm removing them unless or until they can be wikified. Bricology (talk) 17:38, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Be bold and make the edits as you see fit. Your input is quite useful. Kingturtle (talk) 17:50, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Biography As a poor student who excelled at running, Gregory was aided by teachers at Sumner High School such as Warren St. James. He earned a track scholarship to Southern Illinois University Carbondale [1]. There he set school records as a half-miler and miler. His college career was interrupted for two years in 1954 when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. The army was where he got his start in comedy, entering and winning several Army talent shows at the urging of his commanding officer, who had taken notice of Gregory's penchant for joking. In 1956, Gregory briefly returned to the university after his discharge, but left without a degree because he felt that the university "didn't want me to study, they wanted me to run".

In the hopes of performing comedy professionally, he moved to Chicago, where he became part of a new generation of black comedians that included Nipsey Russell, Bill Cosby, and Godfrey Cambridge. These comedians broke with the minstrel tradition, which presented stereotypical black characters. Gregory drew on current events, especially the racial issues, for much of his material: "Segregation is not all bad. Have you ever heard of a collision where the people in the back of the bus got hurt?" [2].

Gregory met his wife Lillian at an African-American club; they married in 1959. They have ten children: Michele, Lynne, Pamela, Paula, Stephanie (aka Xenobia), Gregory, Christian, Miss, Ayanna and Yohance [3]. The Gregorys had one child who died at birth.

In 1973 the Gregory family moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where he developed an interest in vegetarianism. In 1984 he founded Health Enterprises, Inc., a company that distributed weight loss products. In 1985[4] Gregory introduced the "Slim-Safe Bahamian Diet", a powdered diet mix. Economic losses caused in part by conflicts with his business partners led to his eviction from his home in 1992. Gregory remained active, however, and in 1996 returned to the stage in his critically acclaimed one-man show, "Dick Gregory Live!"  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.60.226.217 (talk) 22:32, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Poor Student
"As a poor student who excelled at running..." Is this intended to mean he was not wealthy or that he had failing grades. Its amgibuous.Gomez3000adams 15:59, 13 September 2007 (UTC)


 * "Poor student" would imply failing grades. If it were about money, "poor person" would've been used. 50.29.14.249 (talk) 02:10, 29 April 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
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Question on sources
While translating, I came across the source (currently no. 15) " "Daily News – Google News Archive Search". google.com." It's a link to an old newspaper, but no article is referred to specifically, and I cannot find what is the relevance to Gregory's campaigns or activism. Could someone clarify? effeietsanders 12:44, 20 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank you so much for translating!! When you click on the link, you have to scroll to the right. The article is the one with the tennis headline, referring to him being banned in Australia. I will fix the link. Here is a screenshot to show you the text. —Мандичка YO 😜 13:20, 20 August 2017 (UTC)
 * OK, thanks for the elaboration - I definitely didn't expect it there. I'm afraid it's too much of a tangent in the article to use as a source for me. I changed the citation a bit to make it easier for people to track down though. effeietsanders 13:31, 20 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, it's just a minor reference, I believe the citation was there just to verify his international activity. There was never any kind of incident. I just put in a sentence that he was banned by Australia. —Мандичка YO 😜 13:35, 20 August 2017 (UTC)

Newspaper article with info about Gregory's nutrition projects and businesses
For anyone with the time and interest to flesh out this article's coverage of Gregory's nutrition projects and businesses, here's an informative newspaper article online:

Orlando Sentinel, 1989 David Spector (talk) 00:57, 22 August 2017 (UTC)

"Post-standup career"?
One of the sections of this article is titled "Post-standup career", yet Gregory continued, or at least returned, to performing standup comedy until near the end of his life (and he had more shows booked for dates which turned out to be after his death). See, ,. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 16:41, 22 August 2017 (UTC)

John Lennon
According to the BBC Radio 4 programme Last Word, John Lennon had contacts with Dick Gregory about how to get off opiates. I wonder whether anybody thinks this could get a mention, if briefly, in the article. Vorbee (talk) 15:13, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

organization of article
It doesn't really make sense to separate "activism" from his "career"; his career was in significant part activism -- his comedy was about activism, he engaged in activism to get his routine out there, merely speaking in many of his forums was activism. These sections should be merged. --Lquilter (talk) 19:16, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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His date of death
There's been some contradictory information on here regarding Gregory's date of death. Can that be sorted out? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.85.201.6 (talk) 18:38, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Gregory died on August 19th 2017 yet whenever I change the false date to the correct date it is always changed back to the incorrect one. Could somebody get to the bottom of this. It is easy to confirm his real date of death. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.85.202.137 (talk) 05:29, 7 December 2019 (UTC)

MAD👿
WHY DID YOU GUYS EDIT MY STUFF Lifteveryvoiceandsing (talk) 00:23, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Fruitarian? Breatharian?
I am unable to find reliable sources for these claims. See talk on Fruitarianism for details. — Preceding unsigned comment added by SummerPhD (talk • contribs) 14:05, 23 October 2006 (UTC)