title: Idina Menzel

text: Menzel's successful crossover from stage actress to television, film and music star have been discussed at length, with Redbook dubbing her "One of [Broadway's] biggest crossover success stories." Menzel's biography on Starz describes her as "a stage to screen success story" and "the type of star they really don't make anymore". Original Broadway cast recordings of "Rent" and "If/Then", both albums prominently featuring Menzel as a soloist, debuted within the top-20 of the "Billboard 200". In a 2014 article, "Billboard" wrote that Menzel's crossover success "bodes well for Broadway's would-be stars", while the popularity of "Let it Go" "kicked open the door for future composers of stage and screen." The "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" credits "Let it Go" (and Travolta's mispronunciation of her name at the Academy Awards) with re-establishing Menzel as a household name among fans across the theater, television and film communities, arguably more-so than her stage credits did, while Hollywood.com's said the film "cemented Idina’s transition from Broadway superstar to overall superstar". When Menzel returned to Broadway in 2014 after the success of "Frozen", Suzy Evans of "Billboard" observed that audience response was more akin to that of a "rock star" than a stage actor. Menzel's fanbase has nicknamed themselves "Fanzels". In addition to her perceived authenticity, Isherwood attributes the artist's large following to the successes of "Rent" and "Wicked": "two era-defying, hugely successful Broadway musicals". "Toronto Star" theatre critic Richard Ouzounian credits both shows with solidifying her reputation as one of the industry's "most dynamic musical theatre stars". According to "The Salt Lake Tribune" contributor Sheena McFarland, the artist has remained influential for over two decades, since her first appearance on Broadway. She has been described as "Broadway royalty", due to a combination of her successful stage career and voicing royalty in Disney media.


title: Idina Menzel

text: As an actress, Menzel has earned a reputation for playing misunderstood characters both on stage and in film, believing she gravitates towards more complex female roles. She acknowledged a combination of power and vulnerability as common theme among characters she has played. According to the "Irish Independent", Menzel has become "a go-to actress for producers looking for a feisty female lead" based on her successes as Maureen, Elphaba and Elsa, while "The Globe and Mail"'s Courtney Shea believes she "forged her career playing strong and sensational females". Menzel believes Broadway has always offered compelling roles for women of all ages, while Hollywood is much more susceptible to ageism and sexism. Menzel is largely viewed as a role model towards young women, particularly due to her role as Elsa which has earned her a large following among predominantly female "Frozen" fans. Although she takes her responsibility as a role model seriously, she has stated that she does not always feel like a role model in her personal life and feels uncomfortable bearing the responsibility at times. Diana Bunici of Evoke.ie dubbed Menzel "the voice of the new generation". In 2014, Menzel was awarded "Breakthrough Artist" by "Billboard". "In November 2019, Menzel and actress Kristen Bell, who plays her sister in "Frozen", received neighboring stars—Menzel's was the 2682nd and Bell's was the 2681st—on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Menzel was inducted into the live theatre category. Menzel is also among the wealthiest Broadway performers, due in part to her television, film and music careers. In 2022, Menzel was announced as a recipient of a Disney Legends Award for her outstanding contributions to the Walt Disney Company.


title: Idina Menzel

text: In 2022, Menzel co-wrote a children's book with her sister, Cara Mentzel, called "Loud Mouse" with illustrations by Jaclyn Sinquett. The book is semi-autobiographical about a mouse named Dee who loves to sing loudly. The book was published by Disney-Hyperion on September 27, 2022. In promotion of the book, Menzel released "The Loud Mouse Song", which she co-wrote with Laura Veltz, on September 23, 2022.


title: Idina Menzel

text: Menzel married Taye Diggs on January 11, 2003. They met in 1995 during the original production of "Rent", in which Diggs portrayed Benjamin Coffin III, the landlord. On September 2, 2009, she gave birth to their son. In late 2013, it was reported that Menzel and Diggs had separated after 10 years of marriage.


title: Idina Menzel

text: Menzel began dating actor Aaron Lohr, and in August 2015, they bought a home together in Encino, Los Angeles. On September 23, 2016, Menzel announced that she and Lohr were engaged. They were married over the weekend of September 22, 2017.


title: Idina Menzel

text: Menzel identifies as a feminist, saying, "I love that I play all of these strong women. But they're not just strong—they're women who have a really deep vulnerability and need to go through a journey in order to harness their power."


title: Idina Menzel

text: Menzel was an honorary chair of the Imperial Court of New York's Annual Charity Coronation Ball, Night of A Thousand Gowns, on March 21, 2009, sharing the title with Elton John, Patti LuPone, John Cameron Mitchell, Joan Rivers, and Robin Strasser.


title: Idina Menzel

text: On May 17, 2009, Menzel performed at a special benefit concert in Atlanta, Georgia, to raise money for the Pace Academy Diversity Program in coordination with the Ron Clark Academy. The event resulted in the funding of two scholarships for Ron Clark Academy students to attend Pace Academy. The event was organized and hosted by Philip McAdoo, a former "Rent" cast member and current Diversity Program Director at Pace Academy.


title: Idina Menzel

text: In 2010, Menzel founded the A BroaderWay Foundation with then-husband Taye Diggs as a means of supporting young people in the arts. A BroaderWay sponsors camp programs, theater workshops, and innovative educational programming, and offers scholarships and opportunities to experience professional performances. In Summer 2011, Camp BroaderWay welcomed girls from under-served metro New York communities to a 10-day performing arts camp, run by Menzel and a team of acclaimed professional Broadway artists including Taye Diggs. During this camp, the girls collaborated with Broadway artists to write an original musical that was performed at a theatre in New York. The camp was held at Belvoir Terrace Summer Camp in Lenox, Massachusetts.


title: Idina Menzel

text: Menzel has long-championed LGBT rights by partnering with organizations like The Trevor Project, the Give A Damn Campaign (filming a public service announcement and designing a T-shirt) and the NOH8 Campaign, posing for one of their trademark duct-taped silence photos.


title: Idina Menzel

text: In April 2014, Menzel presented at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition with Bryan Cranston, Fran Drescher, and Denzel Washington, after raising donations at her Broadway show "If/Then".


title: Futurama

text: Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years and revived on December 31, 2999. Fry finds work at an interplanetary delivery company, working alongside the one-eyed Leela and robot Bender. The series was envisioned by Groening in the mid-1990s while working on "The Simpsons"; he brought David X. Cohen aboard to develop storylines and characters to pitch the show to Fox.


title: Futurama

text: Following its initial cancelation by Fox, "Futurama" began airing reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block, which lasted from 2003 to 2007. It was revived in 2007 as four direct-to-video films, the last of which was released in early 2009. Comedy Central entered into an agreement with 20th Century Fox Television to syndicate the existing episodes and air the films as 16 new, half-hour episodes, constituting a fifth season.


title: Futurama

text: In June 2009, Comedy Central picked up the show for 26 new half-hour episodes, which began airing in 2010 and 2011. The show was renewed for a seventh season, with the first half airing in 2012 and the second in 2013. An audio-only episode featuring the original cast members was released in 2017 as an episode of "The Nerdist Podcast". On February 9, 2022, Hulu revived the series with a 20-episode order set to premiere in 2023.


title: Futurama

text: "Futurama" received critical acclaim throughout its run and was nominated for 17 Annie Awards, winning nine, and 12 Emmy Awards, winning six. It was nominated four times for a Writers Guild of America Award, winning for the episodes "Godfellas" and "The Prisoner of Benda". It was nominated for a Nebula Award and received Environmental Media Awards for the episodes "The Problem with Popplers" and "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular". Merchandise includes a tie-in comic book series, video games, calendars, clothes and figurines. In 2013, TV Guide ranked "Futurama" one of the top 60 Greatest TV Cartoons of All Time.


title: Futurama

text: "Futurama" is essentially a workplace sitcom, the plot of which revolves around the Planet Express interplanetary delivery company and its employees, a small group that largely fails to conform to future society. Episodes usually feature the central trio of Fry, Leela, and Bender, though occasional storylines center on the other main characters.


title: Futurama

text: "Futurama" is set in New New York at the turn of the 31st century, in a time filled with technological wonders. The city of New New York has been built over the ruins of present-day New York City, which has become a catacomb-like space that acts as New New York's sewer, referred to as "Old New York". Various devices and architecture are similar to the Populuxe style. Global warming, inflexible bureaucracy, and substance abuse are a few of the subjects given a 31st-century exaggeration in a world where the problems have become both more extreme and more common. Just as New York has become a more extreme version of itself in the future, other Earth locations are given the same treatment; Los Angeles, for example, is depicted as a smog-filled apocalyptic wasteland.


title: Futurama

text: Numerous technological advances have been made between the present day and the 31st century. The Head Museum, which keeps a collection of heads alive in jars and was invented by Ron Popeil (who has a guest cameo in "A Big Piece of Garbage"), has resulted in many historical figures and current celebrities being present, including Groening himself; this became the writers' device to feature and poke fun at contemporary celebrities in the show. Several of the preserved heads shown are those of people who were already dead well before the advent of this technology; one of the most prominent examples of this anomaly is Earth president Richard Nixon, who died in 1994 and appears in numerous episodes. The Internet, while being fully immersive and encompassing all senses—even featuring its own digital world (similar to "Tron" or "The Matrix")—is slow and largely consists of pornography, pop-up ads, and "filthy" (or Filthy Filthy) chat rooms. Some of it is edited to include educational material ostensibly for youth. Television is still a primary form of entertainment. Self-aware robots are a common sight, and are the main cause of global warming due to the exhaust from their alcohol-powered systems. The wheel is obsolete (no one but Fry even seems to recognize the design), having been forgotten and replaced by hover cars and a network of large, clear pneumatic transportation tubes.


title: Futurama

text: Environmentally, common animals still remain, alongside mutated, cross-bred (sometimes with humans) and extraterrestrial animals. Ironically, spotted owls are often shown to have replaced rats as common household pests. Although rats still exist, sometimes rats act like pigeons, though pigeons still exist, as well. Anchovies have been extinct for 800 years. Earth still suffers the effects of greenhouse gases, although in one episode Leela states that its effects have been counteracted by nuclear winter. In another episode, the effects of global warming have been somewhat mitigated by the dropping of a giant ice cube into the ocean, and later by pushing Earth farther away from the sun, which also extended the year by one week.


title: Futurama

text: Religion is a prominent part of society, although the dominant religions have evolved. A merging of the major religious groups of the 20th century has resulted in the First Amalgamated Church, while Voodoo is now mainstream. New religions include Oprahism, Robotology, and the banned religion of "Star Trek" fandom. Religious figures include Father Changstein-El-Gamal, the Robot Devil, Reverend Lionel Preacherbot, and passing references to the Space Pope, who appears to be a large crocodile-like creature. Several major holidays have robots associated with them, including the murderous Robot Santa and Kwanzaa-bot. While very few episodes focus exclusively on religion within the "Futurama" universe, they do cover a wide variety of subjects including predestination, prayer, the nature of salvation, and religious conversion.


title: Futurama

text: "Futurama"s setting is a backdrop, and the writers are not above committing continuity errors if they serve to further the gags. For example, while the pilot episode implies that the previous Planet Express crew was killed by a space wasp, the later episode "The Sting" is based on the crew having been killed by space bees instead. The "world of tomorrow" setting is used to highlight and lampoon issues of today and to parody the science fiction genre.


title: Futurama

text: The television network Fox expressed a strong desire in the mid-1990s for Matt Groening to create a new series after the success of his previous series, "The Simpsons", and began conceiving "Futurama" during this period. In 1996, he enlisted David X. Cohen, then a writer and producer for "The Simpsons", to assist in developing the show. The two spent time researching science fiction books, television shows, and films. When they pitched the series to Fox in April 1998, Groening and Cohen had composed many characters and story lines; Groening claimed they had gone "overboard" in their discussions. Groening described trying to get the show on the air as "by far the worst experience of my grown-up life".


title: Futurama

text: Fox ordered thirteen episodes. Immediately after, however, Fox feared the themes of the show were not suitable for the network and Groening and Fox executives argued over whether the network would have any creative input into the show. With "The Simpsons", the network has no input. Fox was particularly disturbed by the concept of suicide booths, Doctor Zoidberg, and Bender's anti-social behavior. Groening explains, "When they tried to give me notes on "Futurama", I just said: 'No, we're going to do this just the way we did "Simpsons".' And they said, 'Well, we don't do business that way anymore.' And I said, 'Oh, well, that's the only way I do business.'" The episode "I, Roommate" was produced to address Fox's concerns, with the script written to their specifications. Fox strongly disliked the episode, but after negotiations, Groening received the same independence with "Futurama".


title: Futurama

text: The name "Futurama" comes from a pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Designed by Norman Bel Geddes, the Futurama pavilion depicted how he imagined the world would look in 1959. Many other titles were considered for the series, including "Aloha, Mars!" and "Doomsville", which Groening notes were "resoundly rejected, by everyone concerned with it". It takes approximately six to nine months to produce an episode of "Futurama". The long production time results in several episodes being worked on simultaneously.


title: Futurama

text: Groening and Cohen served as executive producers and showrunners during the show's entire run, and also functioned as creative consultants. Ken Keeler became an executive producer for Season 4 and subsequent seasons.


title: Futurama

text: The planning for each episode began with a table meeting of writers, who discussed the plot ideas as a group. The writers are given index cards with plot points that they are required to use as the center of activity in each episode. A single staff writer wrote an outline and then produced a script. Once the first draft of a script was finished, the writers and executive producers called in the actors for a table read. After this script reading, the writers collaborated to rewrite the script as a group before sending it to the animation team. At this point the voice recording was also started and the script was out of the writers' hands.


title: Futurama

text: The writing staff held three Ph.D.s, seven master's degrees, and cumulatively had more than 50 years at Harvard University. Series writer Patric M. Verrone stated, "we were easily the most overeducated cartoon writers in history".


title: Futurama

text: "Futurama" had eight main cast members. Billy West performed the voices of Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Doctor Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan, and many other incidental characters. West auditioned for "just about every part", landing the roles of the Professor and Doctor Zoidberg. Although West read for Fry, his friend Charlie Schlatter was initially given the role of Fry. Due to a casting change, West was called back to audition again and was given the role. West claims that the voice of Fry is deliberately modeled on his own, so as to make it difficult for another person to replicate the voice. Doctor Zoidberg's voice was based on Lou Jacobi and George Jessel. The character of Zapp Brannigan was originally created and intended to be performed by Phil Hartman. Hartman insisted on auditioning for the role, and "just nailed it" according to Groening. Due to Hartman's death, West was given the role. West states that his version of Zapp Brannigan was an imitation of Hartman and also "modeled after a couple of big dumb announcers I knew".


title: Futurama

text: Katey Sagal voiced Leela, and is the only member of the main cast to voice only one character. The role of Leela was originally assigned to Nicole Sullivan. In an interview in June 2010, Sagal remarked that she did not know that another person was to originally voice Leela until many years after the show first began.


title: Futurama

text: John DiMaggio performed the voice of the robot Bender Bending Rodríguez and other, more minor, characters. Bender was the most difficult character to cast, as the show's creators had not decided what a robot should sound like. DiMaggio originally auditioned for the role of Professor Farnsworth, using the voice he uses to perform Bender, and also auditioned for Bender using a different voice. DiMaggio described Bender's voice as a combination of a sloppy drunk, Slim Pickens and a character his college friend created named "Charlie the sausage-lover".


title: Futurama

text: Phil LaMarr voices Hermes Conrad, his son Dwight, Ethan Bubblegum Tate, and Reverend Preacherbot. Lauren Tom voices Amy Wong, and Tress MacNeille voices Mom and various other characters. Maurice LaMarche voices Kif Kroker and several supporting characters. LaMarche won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 2011 for his performances as Lrrr and Orson Welles in the episode "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences". David Herman voiced Scruffy and various supporting characters. During seasons 1–4, LaMarche is billed as supporting cast and Tom, LaMarr and Herman billed as guest stars, despite appearing in most episodes. LaMarche was promoted to main cast and Tom, LaMarr and Herman to supporting cast in Season 5, and promoted again to main cast in Season 6.


title: Futurama

text: In addition to the main cast, Frank Welker voiced Nibbler and Kath Soucie voiced Cubert and several supporting and minor characters. Like "The Simpsons", many episodes of "Futurama" feature guest voices from a wide range of professions, including actors, entertainers, bands, musicians, and scientists. Many guest-stars voiced supporting characters, although many voiced themselves, usually as their own head preserved in a jar. Recurring guest stars included Tom Kenny, Dan Castellaneta (as the Robot Devil), Dawnn Lewis, Nicole St. John, Al Gore, Phil Hendrie, Coolio and George Takei, among others. Bumper Robinson used to be a cast member of the series (who played Hermes' son Dwight), but however left the series after season 4 which caused Phil LaMarr to take over the role afterwards. John Goodman was meant to reprise the role of Robot Santa after "Xmas Story" in future episodes but was unable to reprise the role due to scheduling problems. As a result, John DiMaggio took over that role starting with "A Tale of Two Santas". In that same episode, Dan Castellaneta was unable to reprise the Robot Devil due to his work on "The Simpsons". Maurice LaMarche took over that role for that episode only as Castellaneta did reprise the role in future episodes. Following Coolio's death in 2022, David X. Cohen has revealed on TMZ that he recorded new dialogue for Kwanzaabot before his death in an upcoming episode, scheduled to be released in 2023.


title: Futurama

text: "Futurama" is produced by The Curiosity Company and 20th Century Fox Television (which is credited as 30th Century Fox Television) with the animation being done by Rough Draft Studios. The studio would receive the completed script of an episode and create a storyboard consisting of more than 100 drawings. It would then produce a pencil-drawn animatic with 1,000 frames. Rough Draft's sister studio in South Korea would render the 30,000-frame finished episode.


title: Futurama

text: In addition to traditional cartoon drawing, Rough Draft Studios often used CGI for fast or complex shots, such as the movement of spaceships, explosions, nebulae, large crowds, and snow scenes. The opening sequence was entirely rendered in CGI. The CGI was rendered at 24 frames per second (as opposed to hand-drawn often done at 12 frames per second) and the lack of artifacts made the animation appear very smooth and fluid. CGI characters looked slightly different due to spatially "cheating" hand-drawn characters by drawing slightly out of proportion or off-perspective features to emphasize traits of the face or body, improving legibility of an expression. PowerAnimator and Maya were used to draw the comic-like CGI whilst Toonz was used for digital ink and paint and compositing.


title: Futurama

text: The series began high-definition production in season 6, with "". The opening sequence was re-rendered and scaled to adapt to the show's transition to 16:9 widescreen format.


title: Futurama

text: For the final episode of season 6, "Futurama" was completely reanimated in three different styles: the first segment of the episode features black-and-white Fleischer- and Walter Lantz-style animation, the second was drawn in the style of a low-resolution video game, and the final segment was in the style of Japanese anime.


title: Futurama

text: Much like the opening sequence in "The Simpsons" with its chalkboard gags, Lisa’s sax solo, and couch gags, "Futurama" has a distinctive opening sequence featuring minor gags. As the show begins, blue lights fill the screen and the "Planet Express Ship" flies across the screen with the title of the show being spelled out in its wake. Underneath the title is a joke caption such as "Painstakingly drawn before a live audience" or "When you see the robot: DRINK!" After flying through downtown New New York and past various recurring characters, the Planet Express ship crashes through a large screen showing a short clip from a classic cartoon. These have included clips from "Quasi at the Quackadero", "Looney Tunes" shorts, cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios, a short of "The Simpsons" from a "Tracey Ullman" episode, the show's own opening sequence in "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" or a scene from the episode. Most episodes in Season 6 use an abridged opening sequence, omitting the brief clip of a classic cartoon. "Rebirth", "That Darn Katz!", "Benderama", "Yo Leela Leela", "Decision 3012", "Forty Percent Leadbelly", "", "Leela and the Genestalk", and "Stench and Stenchability" have been the only episodes since "Spanish Fry" to feature a classic cartoon clip. Several episodes begin with a cold opening before the opening sequence, although these scenes do not always correspond with the episode's plot. The opening sequence has been lampooned several times within the show, in episodes including "That's Lobstertainment!", "The Problem with Popplers", as ""Future-roma"" in "The Duh-Vinci Code" and as ""Futurella"" in "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences". "Decision 3012" and "The Problem with Popplers" are the only episodes that directly tie into the opening, with Bender deliberately crashing the ship after seeing an advertisement for free beer in "Decision 3012", while in "The Problem with Popplers", Leela crashes through it during an ad for Popplers, with Fry saying "That's the second billboard you've crashed through this week!". "Viva Mars Vegas" features a unique handmade variant of the opening, using cardboard, plastic, and model ships guided by strings and rods.


title: Futurama

text: Series director Scott Vanzo has remarked on the difficulty of animating the sequence. It took four to five weeks to fully animate the sequence, and it consists of over 80 levels of 3D animation composited together. It takes approximately one hour to render a single frame, and each second of the sequence consists of around 30 frames.


title: Futurama

text: "Bender's Big Score" has an extended opening sequence, introducing each of the main characters. In "" and "" the ship passes through the screen's glass and temporarily becomes part of the environment depicted therein—a pastiche of Disney's "Steamboat Willie" and "Yellow Submarine" respectively—before crashing through the screen glass on the way out. In "", a completely different opening sequence involves a trip through a futuristic version of Las Vegas located on Mars. The theme tune is sung by Seth MacFarlane and is different from the standard theme tune. The end of the film incorporates a unique variation of the opening sequence; as the "Planet Express Ship" enters a wormhole, it converts into a pattern of lights similar to the lights that appear in the opening sequence.


title: Futurama

text: The "Futurama" theme was created by Christopher Tyng. The theme is played on the tubular bells but is occasionally remixed for use in specific episodes, including a version by the Beastie Boys used for the episode "Hell Is Other Robots", in which they guest starred as their own heads for both a concert and as part of the Robot Devil's song. The theme also samples a drum break originating from "Amen, Brother" by American soul group The Winstons; however, the drum break is replaced in Season 6. A remixed rendition of the theme is used in Season 5, which features altered instruments and a lower pitch. Season 6 also uses this remix, but it has been reduced again in pitch and tempo. The theme has been noted for its similarities to Pierre Henry's 1967 "Psyché Rock".


title: Futurama

text: It was originally intended for the "Futurama" theme to be remixed in every episode. This was first trialled in the opening sequence for "Mars University", however it was realized upon broadcast that the sound did not transmit well through most television sets and the idea was subsequently abandoned. Despite this, beatbox renditions of the theme performed by Billy West and John DiMaggio are used for the episodes "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV" and "Spanish Fry".


title: Futurama

text: There are three alternative alphabets that appear often in the background of episodes, usually in the forms of graffiti, advertisements, or warning labels. Nearly all messages using alternative scripts transliterate directly into English. The first alphabet consists of abstract characters and is referred to as Alienese, a simple substitution cipher from the Latin alphabet. The second alphabet uses a more complex modular addition code, where the "next letter is given by the summation of all previous letters plus the current letter". The codes often provide additional jokes for fans dedicated enough to decode the messages. The third language sometimes used is Hebrew. Aside from these alphabets, most of the displayed wording on the show uses the Latin alphabet.


title: Futurama

text: The show predicts that several English expressions will have evolved by the year 3000. For example, in the show the word "Christmas" has been replaced with "Xmas" (pronounced ""ex"-mas"), and the word "ask" with "aks" (pronounced "axe"). According to David X. Cohen, it is a running joke that the French language is extinct in the "Futurama" universe (though the culture remains alive), much like Latin is in the present. In the French dubbing of the show, German is used as the extinct language instead.


title: Futurama

text: At the close of each episode, the 30th Century Fox Television logo is displayed. While it is the same logo as that of 20th Century Fox, it is modified to fit the show's futuristic vibe. Syndicated episodes use the 30th Television closing logo instead of the 20th Television one. Initially, Fox did not want this logo to be used on the show, but when creator Matt Groening purchased the rights to the logo, the network had a change of heart and allowed the altered version to be aired.


title: Futurama

text: Although the series uses a wide range of styles of humor, including self-deprecation, black comedy, off-color humor, slapstick, and surreal humor, its primary source of comedy is its satirical depiction of everyday life in the future and its parodical comparisons to the present. Groening notes that, from the show's conception, his goal was to make what was, on the surface, a goofy comedy that would have underlying "legitimate literary science fiction concepts". The series contrasted "low culture" and "high culture" comedy; for example, Bender's catchphrase is the insult "Bite my shiny metal ass" while his most terrifying nightmare is a vision of the number "2", a joke referring to the binary numeral system (Fry assures him, "there's no such thing as two").


title: Futurama

text: The series developed a cult following partially due to the large number of in-jokes it contains, most of which are aimed at "nerds". In commentary on the DVD releases, David X. Cohen points out and sometimes explains his "nerdiest joke[s]". These included mathematical jokes such as "Loew's formula_1-plex" (aleph-null-plex) movie theater as well as various forms of science humor for example, Professor Farnsworth, at a racetrack, complains about the use of a quantum finish to decide the winner, exclaiming "No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it", a reference to the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics. In the season six episode "Law and Oracle", Fry and the robot peace officer URL track down a traffic violator who turns out to be Erwin Schrödinger, the 20th-century quantum physicist. On the front seat of the car is a box, and when questioned about the contents, Schrödinger replies "A cat, some poison, and a cesium atom". Fry asks if the cat is alive or dead, and Schrödinger answers "It's a superposition of both states until you open the box and collapse the wave function." When Fry opens the box, the cat jumps out and attacks him. The run is a reference to the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment of quantum mechanics. The series makes passing references to quantum chromodynamics (the appearance of Strong Force-brand glue), computer science (two separate books in a closet labeled "P" and "NP" respectively, referring to the possibility that P and NP-complete problem classes are distinct), electronics (an X-ray or more accurately, an "F-ray" of Bender's head reveals a 6502 microprocessor), and genetics (a mention of Bender's "robo- or R-NA"). The show often features subtle references to classic science fiction. These are most often to "Star Trek" many soundbites are used in homage but also include the reference to the origin of the word "robot" made in the name of the robot-dominated planet Chapek 9, and the black rectangular monolith labeled "Out of Order" in orbit around Jupiter (a reference to Arthur C. Clarke's "Space Odyssey" series). Bender and Fry sometimes watch a television show called "The Scary Door", a humorous parody of "The Twilight Zone".


title: Futurama

text: Journalist/critic Frank Lovece in "Newsday" contrasted the humor tradition of Groening's two series, finding that


title: Futurama

text: In an interview with Diego Molano, creator of "Victor & Valentino", in April 2019, he said that he found "Futurama" "incredibly influential", calling the humor smart but "not alienating". He added that it makes him "feel smart" and adding that Groening's "sense of comedic timing is masterful".


title: Futurama

text: Groening and Cohen wanted "Futurama" to be shown at 8:30 pm on Sunday, following "The Simpsons". The Fox network disagreed, opting instead to show two episodes in the Sunday night lineup before moving the show to a regular time slot on Tuesday. Beginning with its second broadcast season, "Futurama" was again placed in the 8:30 pm Sunday spot, but by mid-season the show was moved again, this time to 7:00 pm on Sunday, its third position in less than a year. Even by the fourth season, "Futurama" was being aired erratically. Because the show was regularly pre-empted by sporting events, it became difficult to predict when new episodes would air. The erratic schedule resulted in Fox not airing several episodes that had been produced for seasons three and four, instead holding them for a fifth broadcast season. According to Groening, Fox executives were not supporters of the show. Although "Futurama" was never officially cancelled, midway through the production of the fourth season, Fox decided to stop buying episodes of "Futurama", letting it go out of production before the fall 2003 lineup.


title: Futurama

text: In 2003, Cartoon Network acquired syndication rights to "Futurama" and "Family Guy", another animated show Fox had cancelled, for its Adult Swim block. Both shows proved to be successful immediately, leading to sister network TBS picking up the show later in 2003. The run on Adult Swim revived interest in both series, and when "Family Guy" found success in direct-to-DVD productions, "Futurama"s producers decided to try the same. In 2005, Comedy Central entered negotiations to take over the syndication rights, during which they discussed the possibility of producing new episodes. In 2006, it was announced that four straight-to-DVD films would be produced, and later split into 16 episodes comprising a fifth season of the show. Since no new "Futurama" projects were in production at the time of release, the final movie release "Into the Wild Green Yonder" was designed to stand as the "Futurama" series finale. However, Groening had expressed a desire to continue the franchise in some form, including a theatrical film. In an interview with CNN, Groening said that "we have a great relationship with Comedy Central and we would love to do more episodes for them, but I don't know... We're having discussions and there is some enthusiasm but I can't tell if it's just me." "Futurama" left Adult Swim's lineup on December 31, 2007, following a week-long marathon of the entire series. Comedy Central began airing the show the next day, with season 5 making its broadcast debut on March 23, 2008.


title: Futurama

text: In June 2009, 20th Century Fox Television announced that Comedy Central had picked up the show for 26 new half-hour episodes that began airing on June 24, 2010. The returning writing crew was smaller than the original crew. It was originally announced that main voice actors West, DiMaggio, and Sagal would return as well, but on July 17, 2009, it was announced that a casting notice was posted to replace the entire cast when 20th Century Fox Television would not meet their salary demands. The situation was later resolved, and the entire original voice-cast returned for the new episodes.


title: Futurama

text: Near the end of a message from Maurice LaMarche sent to members of the "Save the Voices of Futurama" group on Facebook, LaMarche announced that the original cast would be returning for the new episodes. The "Toronto Star" confirmed, announcing on their website that the original cast of "Futurama" signed contracts with Fox to return for 26 more episodes. Similarly, an email sent to fans from Cohen and Groening reported that West, Sagal, DiMaggio, LaMarche, MacNeille, Tom, LaMarr, and Herman would all be returning for the revival.


title: Futurama

text: Cohen told "Newsday" in August 2009 that the reported 26-episode order means "[i]t will be up to 26. I can't guarantee it will be 26. But I think there's a pretty good chance it'll be exactly 26. Fox has been a little bit cagey about it, even internally. But nobody's too concerned. We're plunging ahead". Two episodes were in the process of being voice-recorded at that time, with an additional "six scripts ... in the works, ranging in scale from 'it's a crazy idea that someone's grandmother thought of' to 'it's all on paper'.


title: Futurama

text: When "Futurama" aired June 24, 2010, on Comedy Central, it helped the network to its highest-rated night in 2010 and its highest-rated Thursday primetime in the network's history. In March 2011, it was announced that "Futurama" had been renewed for a seventh season, consisting of at least 26 episodes, scheduled to air in 2012 and 2013. The first episode of season 7 premiered June 20, 2012, on Comedy Central.


title: Futurama

text: In July 2011, it was reported that the show had been picked up for syndication by both local affiliates and WGN America. Broadcast of old episodes began in September 2011. On September 19, 2011, WGN America began re-running "Futurama", carrying it until 2014. "Futurama" doubled its viewership in syndication in 2012.


title: Futurama

text: Due to the uncertain future of the series, there have been four designated series finales. "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", "", "Overclockwise", and "Meanwhile" have all been written to serve as a final episode for the show.


title: Futurama

text: Comedy Central announced in April 2013 that they would be airing the final episode "Meanwhile" on September 4, 2013. The producers said that they are exploring options for the future of the series as "[they] have many more stories to tell", but would gauge fan reaction to the news. Groening and Cohen have previously expressed a desire to produce a theatrical film or another direct-to-video film upon conclusion of the series.


title: Futurama

text: In an August 2013 interview with "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel", Katey Sagal said regarding the series finale, "So I don't believe it... I just hold out hope for it because it has such a huge fan base, it's such a smart show, and why wouldn't somebody want to keep making that show; so that's my thought, I'm just in denial that it's over". Sagal also mentioned during the same interview that Groening told her at Comic-Con that "we'll find a place" and "don't worry, it's not going to end".


title: Futurama

text: "The Simpsons" episode "Simpsorama" is an official crossover with "Futurama". It originally aired during the twenty-sixth season of "The Simpsons" on Fox on November 9, 2014, over a year after the "Futurama" series finale aired on Comedy Central.


title: Futurama

text: In October 2017, Syfy announced that they had acquired syndication rights to all 140 episodes of "Futurama", adding it to its lineup on November 11, 2017, with a weekend long marathon. "Futurama" was Syfy's first ever American animated series (the network had an anime programming block in the past), and eventually became paired with Syfy's TZGZ block of animated original series on Saturday nights. Comedy Central continued to air the series concurrently with Syfy, usually in the mornings and early afternoon. Syfy aired episodes from the first four seasons cropped to instead of airing them in their original 4:3 aspect ratio; Comedy Central (since 2017) and FXX would do the same.


title: Futurama

text: In September 2021, FXX, which already carries "The Simpsons" and other Fox animated programming, announced that it would begin airing "Futurama" that November. Syfy stopped airing the show on November 10, 2021, and FXX began airing the show on November 15, 2021. Comedy Central stopped airing the show on December 23, 2021. Adult Swim then picked the show back up on December 27, 2021. Unlike FXX, Adult Swim airs the first four seasons in their original 4:3 aspect ratio, pillarboxed. However, seasons 5 through 7, which were produced in 16:9, air cropped to 4:3. Comedy Central kept the show on their website during this time, and it would return to their linear schedule on May 2, 2022.


title: Futurama

text: In February 2022, Hulu revived the series with a 20-episode order expected to premiere in 2023. At the time of the announcement the majority of the main voice cast was set to return, while John DiMaggio was still in negotiations. DiMaggio stated that he had not accepted the role in mid-February 2022 as he believed the entire cast of "Futurama" should be paid more. He stated, "Bender is part of my soul and nothing about this is meant to be disrespectful to the fans or my "Futurama" family. It's about self-respect. And honestly, [it's about] being tired of an industry that's become far too corporate and takes advantage of artists' time and talent... I wish I could give you every detail so you would understand, but it's not my place." In March, DiMaggio officially rejoined the series after working out a new deal, calling the prior events "Bendergate". He later revealed that he did not get a raise, "but what I did get was a lot of respect". Had he not returned, Bender would have been voiced by a different guest star each episode. In August 2022, the titles of the first 10 episodes were announced by Hulu and by November 2022, the production team was aiming to complete the episodes by the end of the year.


title: Futurama

text: The show received critical acclaim. The first season holds an 89% approval rating at review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 18 reviews, an average rating of 8.75/10. The critical consensus reads, "Good news, everyone! "Futurama" is an inventive, funny, and sometimes affecting look at the world of tomorrow." Season 5 holds a rating of 100%, based on seven reviews, and an average score of 8.67/10. Season 6 has an approval rating of 100%, based on 16 reviews, and the average rating is 8.31/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Good news everyone! "Futurama" is as funny and endearing as ever in its sixth season." The last season received a rating of 92%, and an 8.24/10 average score based on 12 reviews.


title: Futurama

text: "Futurama"s 7:00 p.m. Sunday time slot caused the show to often be pre-empted by sports and usually have a later-than-average season premiere. It also allowed the writers and animators to get ahead of the broadcast schedule so that episodes intended for one season were not aired until the following season. By the beginning of the fourth broadcast season, all the episodes to be aired that season had already been completed and writers were working at least a year in advance.


title: Futurama

text: When "Futurama" debuted in the Fox Sunday night lineup at 8:30 p.m. between "The Simpsons" and "The X-Files" on March 28, 1999, it managed 19 million viewers, tying for 11th overall in that week's Nielsen ratings. The following week, airing at the same time, "Futurama" drew 14.2 million viewers. The third episode, the first airing on Tuesday, drew 8.85 million viewers. Though its ratings were well below "The Simpsons", the first season of "Futurama" rated higher than competing animated series: "King of the Hill", "Family Guy", "Dilbert", "South Park", and "The PJs".


title: Futurama

text: When "Futurama" was effectively canceled in 2003, it had averaged 6.4 million viewers for the first half of its fourth broadcast season.


title: Futurama

text: In late 2002, Cartoon Network acquired exclusive cable syndication rights to "Futurama" for a reported $10 million (equivalent to $ million in ). In January 2003, the network began airing "Futurama" episodes as the centerpiece to the expansion of their Adult Swim cartoon block. In October 2005, Comedy Central picked up the cable syndication rights to air "Futurama"s 72-episode run at the start of 2008, following the expiration of Cartoon Network's contract. A Comedy Central teaser trailer announced the return of "Futurama" March 23, 2008, which was "Bender's Big Score" divided into four episodes followed by the other three movies.


title: Futurama

text: On June 24, 2010, the season 6 premiere, "Rebirth", drew 2.92 million viewers in the 10:00 p.m. time slot on Comedy Central. The second episode of the sixth season, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela", aired at 10:30 p.m., immediately following the season premiere. "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" drew 2.78 million viewers. This was the series' premiere on the network, with original episodes—the fifth season had previously aired on the network, but it had originally been released in the form of the four direct-to-video films.


title: Futurama

text: First started in November 2000, "Futurama Comics" is a comic book series published by Bongo Comics based in the "Futurama" universe. While originally published only in the US, a UK, German and Australian version of the series is also available. In addition, three issues were published in Norway. Other than a different running order and presentation, the stories are the same in all versions. While the comics focus on the same characters in the "Futurama" fictional universe, the comics may not be canonical as the events portrayed within them do not necessarily have any effect upon the continuity of the show.


title: Futurama

text: Like the TV series, each comic (except US comic #20) has a caption at the top of the cover. For example: "Made In The USA! (Printed in Canada)." Some of the UK and Australian comics have different captions on the top of their comics (for example, the Australian version of #20 says "A 21st Century Comic Book" across the cover, while the US version does not have a caption on that issue). All series contain a letters page, artwork from readers, and previews of other upcoming Bongo comics.


title: Futurama

text: When Comedy Central began negotiating for the rights to air "Futurama" reruns, Fox suggested that there was a possibility of also creating new episodes. Negotiations were already underway with the possibility of creating two or three straight-to-DVD films. When Comedy Central committed to sixteen new episodes, it was decided that four films would be produced. On April 26, 2006, Groening noted in an interview that co-creator David X. Cohen and numerous writers from the original series would be returning to work on the movies. All the original voice actors participated. In February 2007, Groening explained the format of the new stories: "[The crew is] writing them as movies and then we're going to chop them up, reconfigure them, write new material and try to make them work as separate episodes."


title: Futurama

text: The first film, "", was written by Ken Keeler and Cohen, and includes return appearances by the Nibblonians, Seymour, Barbados Slim, Robot Santa, the "God" space entity, Al Gore, and Zapp Brannigan. It was animated in widescreen and was released on standard DVD on November 27, 2007, with a possible Blu-ray Disc release to follow. A release on HD DVD was rumored but later officially denied. "Futurama: Bender's Big Score" was the first DVD release for which 20th Century Fox implemented measures intended to reduce the total carbon footprint of the production, manufacturing, and distribution processes. Where it was not possible to completely eliminate carbon, output carbon offsets were used, thus making the complete process carbon neutral.


title: Futurama

text: The second movie, "", was released on June 24, 2008. The third movie, "", was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on November 3, 2008, in the UK, November 4, 2008, in the USA, and December 10, 2008, in Australia. The fourth movie, "", was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on February 24, 2009.


title: Futurama

text: On September 15, 2000, "Unique Development Studios" acquired the license to develop a "Futurama" video game for consoles and handheld systems. Fox Interactive signed on to publish the game. Sierra Entertainment later became the game's publisher, and it was released on August 14, 2003. Versions are available for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, both of which use cel-shading technology. However, the game was subsequently canceled on the GameCube and Game Boy Advance in North America and Europe.


title: Futurama

text: Licensing for mobile games were done in 2016 with "Futurama: Game of Drones" and in 2017 with "", which was released for Android and iOS in 2017.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie I (, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia ("Enderase") for Empress Zewditu from 1916. Haile Selassie is widely considered a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history, and the key figure of Rastafari, a religious movement in Jamaica that emerged shortly after he became emperor in the 1930s. He was a member of the Solomonic dynasty, which claims to trace lineage to Emperor Menelik I, believed to be the son of King Solomon and Makeda the Queen of Sheba.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie attempted to modernize the country through a series of political and social reforms, including the introduction of the 1931 constitution, its first written constitution, and the abolition of slavery. He led the failed efforts to defend Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and spent most of the period of Italian occupation exiled in England. In 1940, he traveled to Sudan in order to assist in coordinating the anti-fascist struggle in Ethiopia, and returned to his home country in 1941 after the East African campaign. He dissolved the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1950, and annexed Eritrea into Ethiopia as one of its provinces, while fighting to prevent secession.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie's internationalist views led to Ethiopia becoming a charter member of the United Nations. In 1963, he presided over the formation of the Organisation of African Unity, the precursor of the African Union, and served as its first chairman. In 1974, he was overthrown in a military coup by a Marxist–Leninist junta, the Derg. Haile Selassie was assassinated on 27 August 1975.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Among some members of the Rastafari movement, Haile Selassie is referred to as the returned messiah of the Bible, God incarnate. This distinction notwithstanding, he was a Christian and adhered to the tenets and liturgy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The Rastafari movement was founded in Jamaica sometime around 1930 and its followers are estimated at between 700,000 and one million as of 2012.


title: Haile Selassie

text: He has been criticized by some historians for his suppression of rebellions among the landed aristocracy (the "mesafint"), which consistently opposed his reforms; some critics have also criticized Ethiopia's failure to modernize rapidly enough. During his rule the Harari people were persecuted and many left the Harari Region. His regime was also criticized by human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, as autocratic and illiberal. Although some sources state that late during his regime the Oromo language was banned from education, public speaking and use in administration there was never an official law or government policy that criminalized any language. The Haile Selassie government relocated numerous Amharas into southern Ethiopia where they served in government administration, courts, and church. Following the death of Hachalu Hundessa in June 2020, the Statue of Haile Selassie in Cannizaro Park, London was destroyed by Oromo protesters, and his father's equestrian monument in Harar was removed.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie was known as a child as Lij Tafari Makonnen (Amharic: ; "Lij Teferī Mekōnnin"). "Lij" is translated as "child" and serves to indicate that a youth is of noble blood. His given name, "Tafari", means "one who is respected or feared." Like most Ethiopians, his personal name "Tafari" is followed by that of his father Makonnen and that of his grandfather Woldemikael. His name, Haile Selassie, was given to him at his infant baptism and adopted again as part of his regnal name in 1930.


title: Haile Selassie

text: On 1 November 1905, at the age of thirteen years and three months old, his father appointed him Dejazmatch of Gara Mulatta (a region some twenty miles southwest of Harar). The literal translation of Dejazmatch is "keeper of the door" and it's a title of nobility equivalent to a Count. On 27 September 1916, he was pronounced Crown Prince, Heir Apparent to the Throne (Alga Worrach) and appointed to the position of Regent Plenipotentiary ("Balemulu Silt'an Enderase"). On 11 February 1917 he was crowned Le'ul-Ras and became known as Ras Tafari Makonnen . "Ras" is translated as "head" and is a rank of nobility equivalent to Duke; though it is often rendered in translation as "prince." Originally the title Le'ul, which means "Your Highness," was only ever used as a form of address however in 1917 the title Le'ul-Ras replaced the senior office of Ras Bitwoded and is the equivalent of a Royal Duke. In 1928, Empress Zewditu planned on granting him the throne of Shewa, however at the last moment opposition from certain provincial rulers caused a change and his title "Negus" or "King" was conferred without geographical qualification or definition.


title: Haile Selassie

text: On 2 November 1930, after the death of Empress Zewditu, Tafari was crowned "Negusa Nagast", literally King of Kings, rendered in English as "Emperor". Upon his ascension, he took as his regnal name Haile Selassie I. "Haile" means in Ge'ez "Power of" and "Selassie" means trinity—therefore "Haile Selassie" roughly translates to "Power of the Trinity". Haile Selassie's full title in office was "By the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Elect of God". This title reflects Ethiopian dynastic traditions, which hold that all monarchs must trace their lineage to Menelik I, who is described by the Kebra Nagast (a 14th-century CE national epic) as the son of the tenth-century BCE King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.


title: Haile Selassie

text: To Ethiopians, Haile Selassie has been known by many names, including Janhoy, Talaqu Meri, and Abba Tekel. The Rastafari movement employs many of these appellations, also referring to him as Jah, Jah Jah, Jah Rastafari, and HIM (the abbreviation of "His Imperial Majesty").


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie's royal line (through his father's mother) descended from the Shewan Amhara Solomonic King, Sahle Selassie. He was born on 23 July 1892, in the village of Ejersa Goro, in the Harar province of Ethiopia. Haile Selassie's mother was paternally of Oromo descent and maternally of Gurage heritage, while his father was maternally of Amhara descent but his paternal lineage remains disputed. Haile Selassie paternal grandfather belonged to a noble family from Shewa and was the governor of the districts of Menz and Doba, which are located in Semien Shewa. His mother was Woizero ("Lady") Yeshimebet Ali Abba Jifar, daughter of a ruling chief from Were Ilu in Wollo province, Dejazmach Ali Abba Jifar. His maternal grandmother was of Gurage heritage. Haile Selassie's father was Ras Makonnen Wolde Mikael, the grandson of King Sahle Selassie who was once the ruler of Shewa. He served as a general in the First Italo–Ethiopian War, playing a key role at the Battle of Adwa; Haile Selassie was thus able to ascend to the imperial throne through his paternal grandmother, Woizero Tenagnework Sahle Selassie, who was an aunt of Emperor Menelik II and daughter of the Solomonic Amhara King of Shewa, Negus Sahle Selassie. As such, Haile Selassie claimed direct descent from Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon of ancient Israel.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Ras Makonnen arranged for Tafari as well as his first cousin, Imru Haile Selassie, to receive instruction in Harar from Abba Samuel Wolde Kahin, an Ethiopian Capuchin monk, and from Dr. Vitalien, a surgeon from Guadeloupe. Tafari was named Dejazmach (literally "commander of the gate", roughly equivalent to "count") at the age of 13, on 1 November 1905. Shortly thereafter, his father Ras Makonnen died at Kulibi, in 1906.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Tafari assumed the titular governorship of Selale in 1906, a realm of marginal importance, but one that enabled him to continue his studies. In 1907, he was appointed governor over part of the province of Sidamo. It is alleged that during his late teens, Haile Selassie was married to "Woizero" Altayech, and that from this union, his daughter Princess Romanework was born.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Following the death of his brother Yelma in 1907, the governorate of Harar was left vacant, and its administration was left to Menelik's loyal general, "Dejazmach" Balcha Safo. Balcha Safo's administration of Harar was ineffective, and so during the last illness of Menelik II, and the brief reign of Empress Taitu Bitul, Tafari was made governor of Harar in 1910 or 1911.


title: Haile Selassie

text: The extent to which Tafari Makonnen contributed to the movement that would come to depose Lij Iyasu has been discussed extensively, particularly in Haile Selassie's own detailed account of the matter. Iyasu was the designated but uncrowned emperor of Ethiopia from 1913 to 1916. Iyasu's reputation for scandalous behavior and a disrespectful attitude towards the nobles at the court of his grandfather, Menelik II, damaged his reputation. Iyasu's flirtation with Islam was considered treasonous among the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian leadership of the empire. On 27 September 1916, Iyasu was deposed.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Contributing to the movement that deposed Iyasu were conservatives such as "Fitawrari" Habte Giyorgis, Menelik II's longtime Minister of War. The movement to depose Iyasu preferred Tafari, as he attracted support from both progressive and conservative factions. Ultimately, Iyasu was deposed on the grounds of conversion to Islam. In his place, the daughter of Menelik II (the aunt of Iyasu) was named Empress Zewditu, while Tafari was elevated to the rank of "Ras" and was made heir apparent and Crown Prince. In the power arrangement that followed, Tafari accepted the role of Regent Plenipotentiary ("Balemulu 'Inderase") and became the "de facto" ruler of the Ethiopian Empire ("Mangista Ityop'p'ya"). Zewditu would govern while Tafari would administer.


title: Haile Selassie

text: While Iyasu had been deposed on 27 September 1916, on 8 October he managed to escape into the Ogaden Desert and his father, "Negus" Mikael of Wollo, had time to come to his aid. On 27 October, "Negus" Mikael and his army met an army under "Fitawrari" Habte Giyorgis loyal to Zewditu and Tafari. During the Battle of Segale, "Negus" Mikael was defeated and captured. Any chance that Iyasu would regain the throne was ended, and he went into hiding. On 11 January 1921, after avoiding capture for about five years, Iyasu was taken into custody by Gugsa Araya Selassie.


title: Haile Selassie

text: On 11 February 1917, the coronation for Zewditu took place. She pledged to rule justly through her Regent, Tafari. While Tafari was the more visible of the two, Zewditu was far from an honorary ruler. Her position required that she arbitrate the claims of competing factions. In other words, she had the last word. Tafari carried the burden of daily administration, but, because his position was relatively weak, this was often an exercise in futility. Initially his personal army was poorly equipped, his finances were limited, and he had little leverage to withstand the combined influence of the Empress, the Minister of War, or the provincial governors.


title: Haile Selassie

text: During his Regency, the new Crown Prince developed the policy of cautious modernization initiated by Menelik II. Also, during this time, he survived the 1918 flu pandemic, having come down with the illness. He secured Ethiopia's admission to the League of Nations in 1923 by promising to eradicate slavery; each emperor since Tewodros II had issued proclamations to halt slavery, but without effect: the internationally scorned practice persisted well into Haile Selassie's reign with an estimated 2 million slaves in Ethiopia in the early 1930s.


title: Haile Selassie

text: In 1924, "Ras" Tafari toured Europe and the Middle East visiting Jerusalem, Alexandria, Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, London, Geneva, and Athens. With him on his tour was a group that included "Ras" Seyum Mangasha of western Tigray Province; "Ras" Hailu Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam province; "Ras" Mulugeta Yeggazu of Illubabor Province; "Ras" Makonnen Endelkachew; and "Blattengeta" Heruy Welde Sellasie. The primary goal of the trip to Europe was for Ethiopia to gain access to the sea. In Paris, Tafari was to find out from the French Foreign Ministry ("Quai d'Orsay") that this goal would not be realized. However, failing this, he and his retinue inspected schools, hospitals, factories, and churches. Although patterning many reforms after European models, Tafari remained wary of European pressure. To guard against economic imperialism, Tafari required that all enterprises have at least partial local ownership. Of his modernization campaign, he remarked, "We need European progress only because we are surrounded by it. That is at once a benefit and a misfortune."


title: Haile Selassie

text: Throughout Tafari's travels in Europe, the Levant, and Egypt, he and his entourage were greeted with enthusiasm and fascination. Seyum Mangasha accompanied him and Hailu Tekle Haymanot who, like Tafari, were sons of generals who contributed to the victorious war against Italy a quarter-century earlier at the Battle of Adwa. Another member of his entourage, Mulugeta Yeggazu, actually fought at Adwa as a young man. The "Oriental Dignity" of the Ethiopians and their "rich, picturesque court dress" were sensationalized in the media; among his entourage he even included a pride of lions, which he distributed as gifts to President Alexandre Millerand and Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré of France, to King George V of the United Kingdom, and to the Zoological Garden ("Jardin Zoologique") of Paris, France. As one historian noted, "Rarely can a tour have inspired so many anecdotes". In return for two lions, the United Kingdom presented Tafari with the imperial crown of Emperor Tewodros II for its safe return to Empress Zewditu. The crown had been taken by General Sir Robert Napier during the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia.


title: Haile Selassie

text: In this period, the Crown Prince visited the Armenian monastery of Jerusalem. There, he adopted 40 Armenian orphans (አርባ ልጆች "Arba Lijoch", "forty children"), who had lost their parents during the Armenian Genocide. Tafari arranged for the musical education of the youths, and they came to form the imperial brass band.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Tafari's authority was challenged in 1928 when "Dejazmach" Balcha Safo went to Addis Ababa with a sizeable armed force. When Tafari consolidated his hold over the provinces, many of Menelik's appointees refused to abide by the new regulations. Balcha Safo, the governor ("Shum") of coffee-rich Sidamo Province, was particularly troublesome. The revenues he remitted to the central government did not reflect the accrued profits and Tafari recalled him to Addis Ababa. The old man came in high dudgeon and, insultingly, with a large army. The "Dejazmatch" paid homage to Empress Zewditu, but snubbed Tafari. On 18 February, while Balcha Safo and his personal bodyguard were in Addis Ababa, Tafari had "Ras" Kassa Haile Darge buy off his army and arranged to have him displaced as the "Shum" of Sidamo Province by Birru Wolde Gabriel who himself was replaced by Desta Damtew.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Even so, the gesture of Balcha Safo empowered Empress Zewditu politically and she attempted to have Tafari tried for treason. He was tried for his benevolent dealings with Italy including a 20-year peace accord that was signed on 2 August. In September, a group of palace reactionaries including some courtiers of the empress, made a final bid to get rid of Tafari. The attempted "coup d'état" was tragic in its origins and comic in its end. When confronted by Tafari and a company of his troops, the ringleaders of the coup took refuge on the palace grounds in Menelik's mausoleum. Tafari and his men surrounded them only to be surrounded themselves by the personal guard of Zewditu. More of Tafari's khaki clad soldiers arrived and decided the outcome in his favor with superiority of arms. Popular support, as well as the support of the police, remained with Tafari. Ultimately, the Empress relented and, on 7 October 1928, she crowned Tafari as "Negus" (Amharic: "King").


title: Haile Selassie

text: The crowning of Tafari as King was controversial. He occupied the same territory as the empress rather than going off to a regional kingdom of the empire. Two monarchs, even with one being the vassal and the other the emperor (in this case empress), had never occupied the same location as their seat in Ethiopian history. Conservatives agitated to redress this perceived insult to the crown's dignity, leading to the rebellion of "Ras" Gugsa Welle. Gugsa Welle was the husband of the empress and the "Shum" of Begemder Province. In early 1930, he raised an army and marched it from his governorate at Gondar towards Addis Ababa. On 31 March 1930, Gugsa Welle was met by forces loyal to "Negus" Tafari and was defeated at the Battle of Anchem. Gugsa Welle was killed in action. News of Gugsa Welle's defeat and death had hardly spread through Addis Ababa when the empress died suddenly on 2 April 1930. Although it was long rumored that the empress was poisoned upon her husband's defeat, or alternately that she died from shock upon hearing of the death of her estranged yet beloved husband, it has since been documented that the Empress succumbed to paratyphoid fever and complications from diabetes after the Orthodox clergy imposed strict rules concerning her diet against her physicians orders with regards to Lent.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Upon Zewditu's death, Tafari himself rose to emperor and was proclaimed "Neguse Negest ze-'Ityopp'ya", "King of Kings of Ethiopia". He was crowned on 2 November 1930, at Addis Ababa's Cathedral of St. George. The coronation was by all accounts "a most splendid affair", and it was attended by royals and dignitaries from all over the world. Among those in attendance were The Duke of Gloucester (King George V's son), Marshal Louis Franchet d'Espèrey of France, and the Prince of Udine representing King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. Emissaries from the United States, Egypt, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, and Japan were also present. British author Evelyn Waugh was also present, penning a contemporary report on the event, and American travel lecturer Burton Holmes shot the only known film footage of the event. One newspaper report suggested that the celebration had incurred a cost in excess of $3,000,000. Many of those in attendance received lavish gifts; in one instance, the Christian emperor even sent a gold-encased Bible to an American bishop who had not attended the coronation, but who had dedicated a prayer to the emperor on the day of the coronation.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie introduced Ethiopia's first written constitution on 16 July 1931, providing for a bicameral legislature. The constitution kept power in the hands of the nobility, but it did establish democratic standards among the nobility, envisaging a transition to democratic rule: it would prevail "until the people are in a position to elect themselves." The constitution limited the succession to the throne to the descendants of Haile Selassie, a point that met with the disapprobation of other dynastic princes, including the princes of Tigrai and even the emperor's loyal cousin, Ras Kassa Haile Darge.


title: Haile Selassie

text: In 1932, the Sultanate of Jimma was formally absorbed into Ethiopia following the death of Sultan Abba Jifar II of Jimma.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Ethiopia became the target of renewed Italian imperialist designs in the 1930s. Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime was keen to avenge the military defeats Italy had suffered to Ethiopia in the First Italo-Abyssinian War, and to efface the failed attempt by "liberal" Italy to conquer the country, as epitomised by the defeat at Adwa. A conquest of Ethiopia could also empower the cause of fascism and embolden its empire's rhetoric. Ethiopia would also provide a bridge between Italy's Eritrean and Italian Somaliland possessions. Ethiopia's position in the League of Nations did not dissuade the Italians from invading in 1935; the "collective security" envisaged by the League proved useless, and a scandal erupted when the Hoare-Laval Pact revealed that Ethiopia's League allies were scheming to appease Italy.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Following 5 December 1934 Italian invasion of Ethiopia at Welwel, Ogaden Province, Haile Selassie joined his northern armies and set up headquarters at Desse in Wollo province. He issued his mobilization order on 3 October 1935:


title: Haile Selassie

text: On 19 October 1935, Haile Selassie gave more precise orders for his army to his Commander-in-Chief, Ras Kassa:


title: Haile Selassie

text: Compared to the Ethiopians, the Italians had an advanced, modern military that included a large air force. The Italians would also come to employ chemical weapons extensively throughout the conflict, even targeting Red Cross field hospitals in violation of the Geneva Conventions.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Starting in early October 1935, the Italians invaded Ethiopia. But, by November, the pace of invasion had slowed appreciably and Haile Selassie's northern armies were able to launch what was known as the "Christmas Offensive". During this offensive, the Italians were forced back in places and put on the defensive. In early 1936, the First Battle of Tembien stopped the progress of the Ethiopian offensive and the Italians were ready to continue their offensive. Following the defeat and destruction of the northern Ethiopian armies at the Battle of Amba Aradam, the Second Battle of Tembien, and the Battle of Shire, Haile Selassie took the field with the last Ethiopian army on the northern front. On 31 March 1936, he launched a counterattack against the Italians himself at the Battle of Maychew in southern Tigray. The emperor's army was defeated and retreated in disarray. As Haile Selassie's army withdrew, the Italians attacked from the air along with rebellious Raya and Azebo tribesmen on the ground, who were armed and paid by the Italians.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie made a solitary pilgrimage to the churches at Lalibela, at considerable risk of capture, before returning to his capital. After a stormy session of the council of state, it was agreed that because Addis Ababa could not be defended, the government would relocate to the southern town of Gore, and that in the interest of preserving the Imperial house, the emperor's wife Menen Asfaw and the rest of the imperial family should immediately depart for French Somaliland, and from there continue on to Jerusalem.


title: Haile Selassie

text: After further debate as to whether Haile Selassie should go to Gore or accompany his family into exile, it was agreed that he should leave Ethiopia with his family and present the case of Ethiopia to the League of Nations at Geneva. The decision was not unanimous and several participants, including the nobleman Blatta Tekle Wolde Hawariat, strenuously objected to the idea of an Ethiopian monarch fleeing before an invading force. Haile Selassie appointed his cousin Ras Imru Haile Selassie as Prince Regent in his absence, departing with his family for French Somaliland on 2 May 1936.


title: Haile Selassie

text: On 5 May, Marshal Pietro Badoglio led Italian troops into Addis Ababa, and Mussolini declared Ethiopia an Italian province. Victor Emanuel III was proclaimed as the new Emperor of Ethiopia. On the previous day, the Ethiopian exiles had left French Somaliland aboard the British cruiser HMS "Enterprise". They were bound for Jerusalem in the British Mandate of Palestine, where the Ethiopian royal family maintained a residence. The Imperial family disembarked at Haifa and then went on to Jerusalem. Once there, Haile Selassie and his retinue prepared to make their case at Geneva. The choice of Jerusalem was highly symbolic, since the Solomonic Dynasty claimed descent from the House of David. Leaving the Holy Land, Haile Selassie and his entourage sailed aboard the British cruiser HMS "Capetown" for Gibraltar, where he stayed at the Rock Hotel. From Gibraltar, the exiles were transferred to an ordinary liner. By doing this, the United Kingdom government was spared the expense of a state reception.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Mussolini invaded Ethiopia and promptly declared his own "Italian Empire". After the League of Nations afforded Haile Selassie the opportunity to address the assembly, Italy withdrew its League delegation, on 12 May 1936. It was in this context that Haile Selassie walked into the hall of the League of Nations, introduced by the President of the Assembly as "His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Ethiopia" ("Sa Majesté Imperiale, l'Empereur d'Éthiopie"). The introduction caused a great many Italian journalists in the galleries to erupt into jeering, heckling, and whistling. As it turned out, they had earlier been issued whistles by Mussolini's son-in-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano. The Romanian delegate and former League president, Nicolae Titulescu, famously jumped to his feet in response and cried "To the door with the savages!", and the offending journalists were removed from the hall. Haile Selassie waited calmly for the hall to be cleared, and responded "majestically" with a speech considered by some among the most stirring of the 20th century.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Although fluent in French, the League's working language, Haile Selassie chose to deliver his historic speech in his native Amharic. He asserted that, because his "confidence in the League was absolute", his people were now being slaughtered. He pointed out that the same European states that found in Ethiopia's favor at the League of Nations were refusing Ethiopia credit and matériel while aiding Italy, which was employing chemical weapons on military and civilian targets alike.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Noting that his own "small people of 12 million inhabitants, without arms, without resources" could never withstand an attack by a large power such as Italy, with its 42 million people and "unlimited quantities of the most death-dealing weapons", he contended that the aggression threatened all small states, and that all small states were in effect reduced to vassal states in the absence of collective action. He admonished the League that "God and history will remember your judgment."


title: Haile Selassie

text: At the beginning of 1936 "Time" had named him "Man of the Year" for 1935 and his June 1936 speech made the emperor an icon for anti-fascists around the world. He failed, however, to get what he most needed: the League agreed to only partial and ineffective sanctions on Italy. Only six nations in 1937 did not recognize Italy's occupation: China, New Zealand, the Soviet Union, the Republic of Spain, Mexico and the United States. It is often said the League of Nations effectively collapsed due to its failure to condemn Italy's invasion of Abyssinia.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie spent his exile years (1936–41) in Bath, England, in Fairfield House, which he bought. The emperor and Kassa Haile Darge took morning walks together behind the 14-room Victorian house's high walls. Haile Selassie's favorite reading was "diplomatic history." But most of his serious hours were occupied with the 90,000-word story of his life that he was laboriously writing in Amharic.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Prior to Fairfield House, he briefly stayed at Warne's Hotel in Worthing and in Parkside, Wimbledon. A bust of Haile Selassie by Hilda Seligman stood in nearby Cannizaro Park to commemorate this time, and was a popular place of pilgrimage for London's Rastafari community, until it was destroyed by protestors on 30 June 2020. Haile Selassie stayed at the Abbey Hotel in Malvern in the 1930s, and his granddaughters and daughters of court officials were educated at Clarendon School for Girls in North Malvern. During his time in Malvern, he attended services at Holy Trinity Church, in Link Top. A blue plaque, commemorating his stay in Malvern, was unveiled on Saturday, 25 June 2011. As part of the ceremony, a delegation from the Rastafari movement gave a short address and a drum recital.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie's activity in this period was focused on countering Italian propaganda as to the state of Ethiopian resistance and the legality of the occupation. He spoke out against the desecration of houses of worship and historical artifacts (including the theft of a 1,600-year-old imperial obelisk), and condemned the atrocities suffered by the Ethiopian civilian population. He continued to plead for League intervention and to voice his certainty that "God's judgment will eventually visit the weak and the mighty alike", though his attempts to gain support for the struggle against Italy were largely unsuccessful until Italy entered World War II on the German side in June 1940.


title: Haile Selassie

text: The emperor's pleas for international support did take root in the United States, particularly among African-American organizations sympathetic to the Ethiopian cause. In 1937, Haile Selassie was to give a Christmas Day radio address to the American people to thank his supporters when his taxi was involved in a traffic accident, leaving him with a fractured knee. Rather than canceling the radio broadcast, he delivered the address, in which he linked Christianity and goodwill with the Covenant of the League of Nations, and asserted that "War is not the only means to stop war":


title: Haile Selassie

text: During this period, Haile Selassie suffered several personal tragedies. His two sons-in-law, Ras Desta Damtew and Dejazmach Beyene Merid, were both executed by the Italians. The emperor's daughter, Princess Romanework, wife of Dejazmach Beyene Merid, was herself taken into captivity with her children, and she died in Italy in 1941. His daughter Tsehai died during childbirth shortly after the restoration in 1942.


title: Haile Selassie

text: After his return to Ethiopia, he donated Fairfield House to the city of Bath as a residence for the aged. In September 2019 two blue plaques, commemorating Haile Selassie, were unveiled by his grandson, one at Fairfield House and one in Weston-super-Mare, where he has swum in the Tropicana pool.


title: Haile Selassie

text: British forces, which consisted primarily of Ethiopian-backed African and South African colonial troops under the "Gideon Force" of Colonel Orde Wingate, coordinated the military effort to liberate Ethiopia. The emperor himself issued several imperial proclamations in this period, demonstrating that, while authority was not divided up in any formal way, British military might and the emperor's populist appeal could be joined in the concerted effort to liberate Ethiopia.


title: Haile Selassie

text: On 18 January 1941, during the East African Campaign, Haile Selassie crossed the border between Sudan and Ethiopia near the village of Um Iddla. The standard of the Lion of Judah was raised again. Two days later, he and a force of Ethiopian patriots joined Gideon Force, which was already in Ethiopia and preparing the way. Italy was defeated by a force of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Nations, Free France, Free Belgium, and Ethiopian patriots. On 5 May 1941, Haile Selassie entered Addis Ababa and personally addressed the Ethiopian people, exactly five years after the fascist forces entered Addis Ababa:


title: Haile Selassie

text: On 27 August 1942, Haile Selassie confirmed the legal basis for the abolition of slavery that had been enacted by Italy throughout the empire and imposed severe penalties, including death, for slave trading. After World War II, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations. In 1948, the Ogaden, a region disputed with both Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland, was granted to Ethiopia. On 2 December 1950, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 390 (V), establishing the federation of Eritrea (the former Italian colony) into Ethiopia. Eritrea was to have its own constitution, which would provide for ethnic, linguistic, and cultural balance, while Ethiopia was to manage its finances, defense, and foreign policy.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Despite his centralization policies that had been made before World War II, Haile Selassie still found himself unable to push for all the programmes he wanted. In 1942, he attempted to institute a progressive tax scheme, but this failed due to opposition from the nobility, and only a flat tax was passed; in 1951, he agreed to reduce this as well. Ethiopia was still "semi-feudal", and the emperor's attempts to alter its social and economic form by reforming its modes of taxation met with resistance from the nobility and clergy, which were eager to resume their privileges in the post-war era. Where Haile Selassie actually did succeed in effecting new land taxes, the burdens were often still passed by the landowners to the peasants.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Between 1941 and 1959, Haile Selassie worked to establish the autocephaly of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church had been headed by the "Abuna", a bishop who answered to the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. In 1942 and 1945, Haile Selassie applied to the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church to establish the independence of Ethiopian bishops, and when his appeals were denied he threatened to sever relations with the Coptic Church of Alexandria. Finally, in 1959, Pope Kyrillos VI elevated the "Abuna" to Patriarch-Catholicos. The Ethiopian Church remained affiliated with the Alexandrian Church. In addition to these efforts, Haile Selassie changed the Ethiopian church-state relationship by introducing taxation of church lands, and by restricting the legal privileges of the clergy, who had formerly been tried in their own courts for civil offenses.


title: Haile Selassie

text: In 1948, the Harari Muslims of Harar with Somali allies staged a significant rebellion against the empire; the state responded violently. Hundreds were arrested and the entire town of Harar was put under house arrest. The government also took control of many assets and estates belonging to the people. This led to a massive exodus of Hararis from the Harari Region, which had not occurred in their history prior. The dissatisfaction of the Harari stemmed from the fact that they had never received limited autonomy of Harar, which was promised by Menelik II after his conquest of the kingdom. The promise was eroded by successive Amhara governors. According to historians Tim Carmicheal and Roman Loimeier, Haile Selassie was directly involved in the suppression of the Harari movement that formed as a response to the crackdown on Hararis who collaborated with the Italians during their occupation of Ethiopia from 1935 to 1941.


title: Haile Selassie

text: In keeping with the principle of collective security, for which he was an outspoken proponent, Haile Selassie sent a contingent, under General Mulugueta Bulli, known as the Kagnew Battalion, to take part in the Korean War by supporting the United Nations Command. It was attached to the American 7th Infantry Division, and fought in a number of engagements including the Battle of Pork Chop Hill. In a 1954 speech, Haile Selassie spoke of Ethiopian participation in the Korean War as a redemption of the principles of collective security:


title: Haile Selassie

text: During the celebrations of his Silver Jubilee in November 1955, Haile Selassie introduced a revised constitution, whereby he retained effective power, while extending political participation to the people by allowing the lower house of parliament to become an elected body. Party politics were not provided for. Modern educational methods were more widely spread throughout the Empire. The country embarked on a development scheme and plans for modernization, tempered by Ethiopian traditions, and within the framework of the state's ancient monarchical structure.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie compromised, when practical, with the traditionalists in the nobility and church. He also tried to improve relations between the state and ethnic groups, and granted autonomy to Afar lands that were difficult to control. Still, his reforms to end feudalism were slow and weakened by the compromises he made with the entrenched aristocracy. The Revised Constitution of 1955 has been criticized for reasserting "the indisputable power of the monarch" and maintaining the relative powerlessness of the peasants.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie also maintained cordial relations with the government of the United Kingdom through charitable gestures. He sent aid to the British government in 1947 when Britain was affected by heavy flooding. His letter to Lord Meork, National Distress Fund, London said, "even though We are busy of helping our people who didn't recover from the crises of the war, We heard that your fertile and beautiful country is devastated by the unusually heavy rain, and your request for aid. Therefore, We are sending small amount of money, about one thousand pounds through our embassy to show our sympathy and cooperation." He also left his home in exile, Fairfield House, Bath, to the City of Bath for the use of the aged in 1959.


title: Haile Selassie

text: In the summer of 1958, a widespread famine in the Tigray province of northern Ethiopia was already two years old yet people in Addis Ababa knew hardly anything about it. When significant reports of death finally reached the Ministry of Interior in September 1959 the central government immediately disclosed the information to the public and began asking for contributions. The Emperor personally donated 2,000 tons of relief grain, the U.S. sent 32,000 tons, which was distributed between Eritrea and Tigray, and money for aid was raised throughout the country but it is estimated that approximately 100,000 people had died before the crisis ended in August 1961. The causes of the famine were attributed to drought, locusts, hailstone and epidemics of small-pox, typhus, measles and malaria.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Haile Selassie contributed Ethiopian troops to the United Nations Operation in the Congo peacekeeping force during the 1960 Congo Crisis, to preserve Congolese integrity, per United Nations Security Council Resolution 143. On 13 December 1960, while Haile Selassie was on a state visit to Brazil, his "Kebur Zabagna" (Imperial Guard) forces staged an unsuccessful coup, briefly proclaiming Haile Selassie's eldest son Asfa Wossen as emperor. The regular army and police forces crushed the coup d'état. The coup attempt lacked broad popular support, was denounced by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and was unpopular with the army, air force and police. Nonetheless, the effort to depose the emperor had support among students and the educated classes. The coup attempt has been characterized as a pivotal moment in Ethiopian history, the point at which Ethiopians "for the first time questioned the power of the king to rule without the people's consent". Student populations began to empathize with the peasantry and poor and advocate on their behalf. The coup spurred Haile Selassie to accelerate reform, which was manifested in the form of land grants to military and police officials.


title: Haile Selassie

text: The emperor continued to be a staunch ally of the West, while pursuing a firm policy of decolonization in Africa, which was still largely under European colonial rule. The United Nations conducted a lengthy inquiry regarding Eritrea's status, with the superpowers each vying for a stake in the state's future. Britain, the administrator at the time, suggested Eritrea's partition between Sudan and Ethiopia, separating Christians and Muslims. The idea was instantly rejected by Eritrean political parties, as well as the UN.


title: Haile Selassie

text: A UN plebiscite voted 46 to 10 to have Eritrea be federated with Ethiopia, which was later stipulated on 2 December 1950 in resolution 390 (V). Eritrea would have its own parliament and administration and would be represented in what had been the Ethiopian parliament and would become the federal parliament. Haile Selassie would have none of the European attempts to draft a separate Constitution under which Eritrea would be governed, and wanted his own 1955 Constitution protecting families to apply in both Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 1961 the 30-year Eritrean Struggle for Independence began, followed by the dissolution of the federation and shutting down of Eritrea's parliament.


title: Haile Selassie

text: In September 1961, Haile Selassie attended the Conference of Heads of State of Government of Non-Aligned Countries in Belgrade, FPR Yugoslavia. This is considered to be the founding conference of the Non-Aligned Movement.


title: Haile Selassie

text: In 1961, tensions between independence-minded Eritreans and Ethiopian forces culminated in the Eritrean War of Independence. Eritrea's elected parliament voted to become the fourteenth province of Ethiopia in 1962. The war would continue for 30 years; first Haile Selassie, then the Soviet-backed junta that succeeded him, attempted to retain Eritrea by force.


title: Haile Selassie

text: In 1963, Haile Selassie presided over the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the precursor of the continent-wide African Union (AU). The new organization would establish its headquarters in Addis Ababa. In May of that year, Haile Selassie was elected as the OAU's first official chairperson, a rotating seat. Along with Modibo Keïta of Mali, the Ethiopian leader would later help successfully negotiate the Bamako Accords, which brought an end to the border conflict between Morocco and Algeria. In 1964, Haile Selassie would initiate the concept of the United States of Africa, a proposition later taken up by Muammar Gaddafi.


title: Haile Selassie

text: On 4 October 1963, Haile Selassie addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations referring in his address to his earlier speech to the League of Nations:


title: Haile Selassie

text: On 25 November 1963, the emperor was among other heads of state, including France's President Charles de Gaulle and Belgium's King Baudouin, who traveled to Washington, D.C., and attended the funeral of assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Haile Selassie was the only African head of state to attend the funeral. In addition, he was also the only one of the three prominent world leaders (De Gaulle, Baudouin, and Selassie) that would have another meeting with the new president Lyndon B. Johnson, in Washington during his presidency; the two would meet on Johnson's first day in the Oval Office of the White House and again during an informal visit to the United States in 1967.


title: Haile Selassie

text: In 1966, Haile Selassie attempted to replace the historical tax system with a single progressive income tax, which would significantly weaken the nobility who had previously avoided paying most of their taxes. Even with alterations, this law led to a revolt in Gojjam, which was repressed although enforcement of the tax was abandoned. Having achieved its design in undermining the tax, the revolt encouraged other landowners to defy Haile Selassie.


title: Haile Selassie

text: While he had fully approved and assured Ethiopia's participation in UN-approved collective security operations, including Korea and Congo, Haile Selassie drew a distinction between it and the non-UN-approved foreign intervention in Indochina, consistently deploring it as needless suffering and calling for the Vietnam War to end on several occasions. At the same time he remained open toward the United States and commended it for making progress with African Americans' Civil Rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s, while visiting the US several times during these years.


title: Haile Selassie

text: In 1967, he visited Montréal, Canada, to open the Ethiopian Pavilion at the Expo '67 World's Fair where he received great acclaim among other World leaders there for the occasion.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Student unrest became a regular feature of Ethiopian life in the 1960s and 1970s. Communism took root in large segments of the Ethiopian intelligentsia, particularly among those who had studied abroad and had thus been exposed to radical and left-wing sentiments that were becoming popular in other parts of the globe. Resistance by conservative elements at the Imperial Court and Parliament, and by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, made Haile Selassie's land reform proposals difficult to implement, and also damaged the standing of the government, costing Haile Selassie much of the goodwill he had once enjoyed. This bred resentment among the peasant population. Efforts to weaken unions also hurt his image. As these issues began to pile up, Haile Selassie left much of domestic governance to his Prime Minister, Aklilu Habte Wold, and concentrated more on foreign affairs.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Outside of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie continued to enjoy enormous prestige and respect. As the longest-serving head of state in power, he was often given precedence over other leaders at state events, such as the state funerals of John F. Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle, the summits of the Non-Aligned Movement, and the 1971 celebration of the 2,500 years of the Persian Empire. In 1970 he visited Italy as a guest of President Giuseppe Saragat, and in Milan he met Giordano Dell'Amore, President of Italian Savings Banks Association. He visited China in October 1971, and was the first foreign head of state to meet Mao Zedong following the death of Mao's designated successor Lin Biao in a plane crash in Mongolia.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Human rights in Ethiopia under Haile Selassie's regime were poor. Civil liberties and political rights were low with Freedom House giving Ethiopia a "Not Free" score for both civil liberties and political rights in the last years of Haile Selassie's rule. Although some sources state that common human rights abuses included imprisonment and torture of political prisoners and very poor prison conditions; the Emperor was known for pardoning hundreds of prisoners at a time and there were no more than ten political prisoners during his entire reign. The Imperial Ethiopian Army also carried out a number of atrocities while fighting the Eritrean separatists. This was due to frustrated soldiers, some of them ethnically Eritrean, who broke ranks with the military, disobeyed laws and began illegally destroying Eritrean villages that supported the rebels. There were a number of mass killings of hundreds of civilians during the war in the late 1960s and early '70s. An investigation into the atrocities was started by Haile Selassie's regime and some officials were arrested. However six days after the investigation began the government collapsed when the Emperor was deposed on 12 September 1974.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Famine—mostly in Wollo, north-eastern Ethiopia, as well as in some parts of Tigray—is estimated to have killed 40,000 to 80,000 Ethiopians between 1972 and 1974. A BBC News report has cited a 1973 estimate that 200,000 deaths occurred, based on a contemporaneous estimate from the Ethiopian Nutrition Institute. While this figure is still repeated in some texts and media sources, it was an estimate that was later found to be "over-pessimistic". Although the region is infamous for recurrent crop failures and continuous food shortage and starvation risk, this episode was remarkably severe. A 1973 production of the ITV programme "The Unknown Famine" by Jonathan Dimbleby relied on the unverified estimate of 200,000 dead, stimulating a massive influx of aid while at the same time destabilizing Haile Selassie's regime.


title: Haile Selassie

text: Some reports suggest that the emperor was unaware of the famine's extent, while others incorrectly assert that he was well aware of it. In addition to the exposure of attempts by corrupt local officials to cover up the famine from the imperial government, the Kremlin's depiction of Haile Selassie's Ethiopia as backwards and inept (relative to the purported utopia of Marxism–Leninism) contributed to the popular uprising that led to its downfall and the rise of Mengistu Haile Mariam. The famine and its image in the media undermined the government's popular support, and Haile Selassie's once unassailable personal popularity fell.


title: Haile Selassie

text: The crisis was exacerbated by military mutinies and high oil prices, the latter a result of the 1973 oil crisis. The international economic crisis triggered by the oil crisis caused the costs of imported goods, gasoline, and food to skyrocket, while unemployment spiked.