• eric@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      11 months ago

      Sorry to burst your bubble, but this oft-repeated piece of Trek trivia is not true.

      The first interracial kiss on American television was William Shatner and France Nuyen (of Asian decent) on the Ed Sullivan show, which happened in 1958, nearly 9 full years before William Shatner kissed Barbara Luna on Star Trek (1967).

      And the absolute world’s first interracial tv kiss was in the UK during either the broadcast of the film The Seekers (1954) or during a BBC presentation of the play Othello in 1955. It’s either/or because the actual air date of The Seekers is unknown.

      source

      • EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        11 months ago

        Never be sorry for furthering knowledge, friend.

        1.) NINE YEARS that’s incredible!

        2.) why is William Shatner still in the story though like now it’s a conspiracy

        • eric@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          11 months ago

          I find that starting with an apology makes people more receptive to corrections. I’m not really sorry for furthering knowledge, but the apology preface helps the knowledge go further.

          But yeah, it is kind of crazy that it was still Shatner, but what’s most bizarre is that he let this common mistake persist for decades. I’m pretty sure I saw him talk about being the first interracial kiss at some convention or interview, and he never bothered to correct when they said it was in Star Trek. Most likely he simply forgot or never knew since it was a merely a clip of a play that was shown on Sullivan’s show.