In a television interview from October 1983 (a clip of which made a comeback on social media), talk show host Don Lane asks a young Linda Ronstadt: “You went to South Africa recently. Have you received criticism for going there?” This moment arrives nearly an hour into the new documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (2019, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman). In a short clip, we see the pop singer interviewed on the Don Lane Show, faced with a question about her performance at the infamous Sun City casino resort in apartheid South Africa.

Ronstadt’s Sun City tour landed her in the first edition of the United Nations’ “Register of Entertainers, Actors And Others Who Have Performed in Apartheid South Africa.” The UN Register, which was sometimes referred to as a blacklist, was first published in 1983 by the UN Special Committee against Apartheid, itself established by a vote of the UN General Assembly in 1980 (which had been opposed by a handful of countries including Canada and the United States). Other performers singled out by the UN for violating the boycott over the previous two years included Liza Minelli, Olivia Newton-John, Dolly Parton, Clarence Carter, Shirley Bassey, Barry Manilow, and Rod Stewart. By 1985, the UN Register included 388 names of performers who had broken the boycott since 1981, including Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Liberace, and the Beach Boys.

Inclusion on the UN’s Register or blacklist was not final. Artists could easily be removed from the list if they signed a pledge that going forward they would boycott South Africa until apartheid had ended. And indeed, many artists readily complied: in 1985, Goldie Hawn was shocked to find herself on the Register and made clear her intentions to sign the pledge. “I feel awful about it,” Hawn told the Chicago Tribune, “Warner Bros. told me it was a good market and wanted me to go there. And I was so naive, I went. I was really quite innocent until I got there and saw what a horror story it was—then I spoke my mind (against apartheid). I won`t be going back, God knows!”

“As far as I was concerned it was just a gig,” Ronstadt told Don Lane:

I don’t think that if you disagree with the policies of the government, which I do very definitely disagree with the policies of the South African government, I don’t think that’s enough of a reason not to go and play music there. If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to play in the United States … if I decided that I wasn’t going to play where attitudes of racism prevailed I certainly couldn’t play in Australia or England or lots of places in the United States …

Regrettably, the documentary quickly moves on, and can be fairly accused of glossing over the controversy. Even worse, by following the interview with a clip of Ronstadt’s friend Bonnie Raitt praising her political intellect and “depth,” the film effectively presents Ronstadt’s decision to perform in apartheid South Africa as a savvy and politically mature choice, and it comes across as somehow laudable.

This is unfortunate, for Ronstadt’s decision to play Sun City was not only morally wrong, but it was also an important cultural moment of the anti-apartheid era, especially in the United States. While Ronstadt certainly wasn’t alone in breaking the cultural boycott, she was nonetheless one of the most visible celebrities to do so, and unlike many other artists she refused to apologize. Her intransigence on this issue made her a key symbol in the debates over the boycott, and a flashpoint for activism. As such, the controversy deserves further reflection.