Racism:

Billionaire Howard Hughes was allegedly the most racist man to ever come through Hollywood according to the following allegations. He allegedly had an intense hatred for Blacks. Once, when Sammy Davis, Jr. was headlining at one of his Las Vegas hotels, aides had to physically restrain Hughes when he got up to go towards the stage saying, "What is this n***er doing performing on my stage." Hughes was also upset when he was notified that Arthur Ashe was practicing on one of his hotel tennis courts, he tried to get Ashe banned. Also, an white actress who appeared in the stage version of "The Great White Hope," said Hughes was infuriated with her due to her interracial loves scenes and had her blacklisted in Hollywood.

Hughes was on the verge of purchasing a major network until he saw an episode of the "Dating Game," with a black man and white woman, he cancelled the deal. Hughes also refused to sit down in a chair in a studio screening room because he had been informed that the black cast of Porgy & Bess had occupied the screening room before he arrived. He suggested that all the chairs be re-upholstered.

It's also been rumored by never proven that Hughes personally financed the downfall (with propaganda, etc.) of numerous civil rights activists.

Hollywood Damage Control:

On 11 July 1936, a car driven by Howard Hughes struck and killed a pedestrian named Gabriel Meyer at the corner of Third Street and Lorraine in Los Angeles. Although Hughes was certified as sober at the hospital to which he was taken after the accident, a doctor there made a note that Hughes had been drinking. He was taken to jail and booked on "suspicion of negligent homicide." A witness to the accident told police that Hughes was driving erratically and too fast, and that Meyer had been standing in the safety zone of a streetcar stop.

Hughes brought in his "billionaire fixer." By the time of the coroner's inquiry, however, the witness had changed his story and claimed that Meyer had moved directly in front of Hughes' car. Hughes made the same claim to reporters outside the inquiry, saying, "I was driving slowly and a man stepped out of the darkness in front of me." The District Attorney recommended that Hughes be cleared of responsibility for Meyer's death.