Photo:ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Contestants onFamily FeudduringRichard Dawson’s tenure as host had to undergo herpes tests on set, according to a new book.InOutrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars, writer Kliph Nesteroff reveals that the game show had to order herpes tests for contestants due to the late host’s penchant for kissing female contestants on the mouth.According to a report from thePacific Daily News, the game show implemented a new policy, stating that both male and female contestants had to “undergo a mouth test with a magnifying glass from medical distaff.” Nesteroff writes of one contestant’s experience, during which a production assistant announced, “OK, everybody line up for your herpes tests,” after they entered a dressing room with the test supplies.
Richard Dawson and a contestant on “Family Feud” in 1980.Bob D’Amico /American Broadcasting Companies via Gett
Bob D’Amico /American Broadcasting Companies via Gett
PEOPLE has reached out to ABC, Fremantle Productions and Debmar-Mercury for comment.
Outrageoustakes a look at censorship in entertainment from the Vaudeville era to the present day. Whether examining racism in 1800s theater or viewer outcry over the pregnancy storyline inI Love Lucy, Nesteroff shows that censorship — and the reasoning behind it — has long been part of the industry.
Abrams Books
“She was concerned that people would think that she had said something that was much worse than that,” Nesteroff says. “If they bleeped her, [if] they deleted what she said, well, it must’ve been some horrible statement. Must’ve been some terrible vulgarism. But she was merely calling for world peace.”
“A senior citizens rights group lodged a campaign and demanded that he stopped doing the character. They felt it was defamatory to the senior citizens and furthered stereotypes of seniors as feeble, stupid, and inept,” Nesteroff says.
Johnny Carson.NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
Nesteroff, who is a former standup comic, says comedians don’t think in terms of whether something is “off limits” in their material.“Standup comedy and funny people operate in a much more organic manner than I think people outside of comedy realize or understand,” he says. “Because, for people who aren’t funny, in order to be funny, it seems like an enormous amount of labor and thought. Whereas when you’re born with the knack of being funny, it’s all pure instinct.”Nesteroff does believe time has influenced how we perceive entertainment and censorship.“The hysteria of today over whatever it might be will look just as ridiculous 40 years from now as the hysteria overElvis [Presley]looks to us today, or the hysteria over the Beatles looks to us today, or the hysteria overThe Simpsonslooks like to us today,” Nesteroff says. “Because in those days, those people were very serious. So when people go crazy over whatever it is —drag queensortextbooksor whatever the grievance is about — I think it will look absolutely absurd in the future, which means it’s absurd now.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Warsis out now everywhere books are sold.
source: people.com
