(Monday, April 24, 1972) — The song “Woman Is the Nigger of the World,” a phrase originally coined by Yoko Ono, the wife of ex-Beatle John Lennon, to point out women’s subservience to men and male chauvinism across all cultures, was released as a single today in the U.S. by John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory and The Invisible Strings.

Through radio and television interviews, Lennon described his use of the term “nigger” as referring to any oppressed person. Apple Records also placed an advertisement for the single in the May 6 issue of Billboard magazine featuring a recent statement, unrelated to the song, by prominent black Congressman Ron Dellums to demonstrate the broader use of the term.

But due to its use of the racial epithet and what was criticized as an inappropriate comparison of sexism to racism against Black Americans, most radio stations in the United States declined to play the record.