 Penniman's flamboyant look, while a hit during the 1950s, failed to help his labels to promote him to more conservative black record buyers.Penniman later claimed that his decision to "backslide" from his ministry, led religious clergymen to protest his new recordings.Making matters worse, Penniman said, was his insistence on performing in front of integrated audiences at the time of the black liberation movement shortly after the Watts riots and the formation of the Black Panthers which caused many black radio disk jockeys in certain areas of the country, including Los Angeles, to choose not to play his music.