GTE/BEll Atlantic & James Earl Jones?

Question

Question Details: I understand that in order for the merger of GTE & Bell Atlantic that happened right around the turn of the century, GTE demanded that the very, very successful James Earl Jones had to be dropped from their ads. Why on earth would GTE demand that? Everybody loved James Earl Jones.

Answer 1

GTE was a deep seated southern company based in Texas. I have to think that since they were from the same state as George Bush, they wanted rid of Jones because he is black.