Singer-activist Harry Belafonte came under fire for comparing US Secretary of State Colin Powell to a ‘‘house slave’’ as Senate minority leader Trent Lott pulled out of a dinner — to be hosted in the singer’s honour on October 24 — and a black conservative group demanded that he apologise. Belafonte said that while there were political differences between him and Powell, ‘‘we have always called each other friend”. ‘‘In using the term ‘master’, I was, of course, referring to the President of the US. This was not a personal attack on Colin Powell,’’ said Belafonte.
