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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by snausagesinablanket@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

Author Joel Williamson shared Elvis kept a group of three 14-year-old girls with him on the tour who were up "for pillow fights, tickling, kissing and cuddling when he was 22.

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[-] carl_dungeon@lemmy.world 142 points 2 months ago

Because no one cared about that 60 years ago

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 96 points 2 months ago

Most people weren't even aware of it.

The general public knowing every little detail about a celebrity's life simply wasn't a thing then.

[-] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

People wrote songs about it. Famous songs that you know the words to. People knew, they just didn't care.

[-] aodhsishaj@lemmy.world 49 points 2 months ago

The sad truth is that it was a very common practice. Just wait until they hear about Jerry Lee Lewis.

[-] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 40 points 2 months ago

And the Grateful Dead (sure Bob, you waited while she slept outside your room every night for 3 years), Chuck Berry, Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, and about a hundred other groups. Hell, Kiss had the Christine Sixteen song, Jethro Tull had Aqualung, Seventeen by Winger, Into the Night by Benny Mardones, and a bunch of other songs have super uncomfortable lyrics about girls.

That's not even getting into well known shit bags like Nugent.

[-] MummifiedClient5000@feddit.dk 62 points 2 months ago

Jethro Tull doesn't romanticize Aqualung (the old man that sits on a park bench and eyes little girls with bad intents). Quite the contrary actually.

[-] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 27 points 2 months ago

That's a really good point. I'm leaving it for now so your reply makes sense but I'll remove it next time I make that list (which happens too often).

[-] aodhsishaj@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

Yuuuuuup it's a long line of assholes in rock and roll.

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[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

I'm pretty sure fathers cared. Shotgun and shovel levels of caring.

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[-] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 87 points 2 months ago

As disgusting as we see it now, keep in mind that, back then, child marriage was not only condoned but sometimes encouraged in those parts of the Southern U.S.

We'll never know if he did it because he had a thing for young girls, or if he did it simply because it was an accepted practice.

Regardless of why, it's objectively terrible that he did that.

[-] BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 38 points 2 months ago

Canada only changed the age of consent from 14 to 16 last decade.

[-] jol@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 2 months ago

Age of consent is not the same as age an adult is allowed to be with a minor. Minors should be allowed to consent to have sex, just not with much older people. Laws that prosecute, say, a 19 year old from having sex with a 17 years old, or god forbid two 14 years olds to have sex together, are absolutely draconian.

[-] BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 51 points 2 months ago

Actually, that's exactly what age of consent is. The age at which you're allowed to do things with an adult of any age.

Romeo and Juliet (or close in age) exceptions are for the situation you're describing, and are usually tacked onto age of consent laws as an exception.

In Canada, there's a pair of these. At 14 and 15 it's less than 5 years older, and at 12 and 13 it's less than 2 years older.

[-] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

Fun fact: there's no such thing as objective morality. Back in the 1920s people thought it was objectively terrible for Black people to have equal rights.

[-] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I said it was objectively terrible, I didn't mention morals. :)

Harming people is terrible, whether or not social morality supports it.

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[-] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 71 points 2 months ago

Because his fame comes from an era when that kind of age gap and inappropriate conduct was handwaved away with "fRoM a GoOd FaMiLy!"

Especially in his native southern US. Especially especially among the white folks in his native southern US.

[-] dumbass@leminal.space 56 points 2 months ago

Have you not listened to songs from that era? They're mostly about hooking up with underage girls.

[-] Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg 17 points 2 months ago

Yeah, sweet seventeen by Chuck Berry also hits ... as at the very least, creepy in 2024.

[-] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 20 points 2 months ago

Don't forget "Sweet Caroline" about an 11 y/o Caroline Kennedy. Fucking creep.

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[-] darkpanda@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 months ago

Might you be thinking of “Sweet Little Sixteen” by Chuck Berry? The guy who btw installed cameras in women’s bathrooms?

Also, the most venerated boomer band of all time…

“She was just 17… if you know what I mean

Love the Beatles, mind you, but uhhhh… all of those boomer bands were like that.

“I used to pull your pigtails And your scrunched up nose But baby you been growing And baby it’s been showing From your head down to your toes”

Another Elvis hit, “Little Sister.”

Again, love the King, but uhhh….

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[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 40 points 2 months ago

Wait until you find out about Jerry Lee Lewis...

[-] NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 35 points 2 months ago

Wait until you find out about The Prophet Mohammed

[-] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago

So I can better understand, could you draw me a picture?

[-] NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago

Sure, if it helps you:

[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago

Wait until you find out about Donald Trump.

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 months ago

Donald Trump had a wife whose age was a single digit?

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[-] yesman@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

While some want to litigate what Mohamed did in the 15^th^ century, child marriage is still legal in most of the US and is still practiced (illegally) all throughout Europe.

I post this because I'm sick of people who think that Muslims have something to teach the West about persecution, degeneracy, theocracy, violence, and bigotry when we've been the world leaders of all forms of lechery for like 4 centuries.

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[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 7 points 2 months ago

Muslims are still bending out of shape trying to explain that away 🤡

Disgusting history along with with bootlickers larping it to this day.

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[-] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 17 points 2 months ago

Wait til you read about Gandhis sleeping habits in his old age.

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[-] vorlaut_boy@feddit.org 38 points 2 months ago

Snoop was a pimp. Now everybody loves him. Weird.

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 40 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

And stood trial for a murder, which he was definitely present at. Everyone's forgotten that Snoop is an actual OG who ran with bangers. His PR with Martha Stewart completely changed his image, and now he'll put his name and face on anything that will pay him enough money.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 8 points 2 months ago
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[-] psion1369@lemmy.world 33 points 2 months ago

Priscilla was 14 when they met, and he managed to convince her father to let her live with him. I blame the father just a much since he knew what was going down.

[-] lemmyviking@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

Not that I condone any of this, but consider that the cultural disgust of marrying a girl under the age of 18 is a more recent and modern taboo. Back then, in rural United States, it wasn't an issue at all. Heck as a Gen X kid whose parents were from the Silent Generation, my mother married her first husband when she was 16 and he was 22. She never thought it was an issue other than she regretted marrying anyone at the age. But her parents, church, and teachers didn't think it was a problem.

It's hard to believe because most people might say Elvis lived in modern society but he's not. The 20th century was full of changes that we don't really think about.

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[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 29 points 2 months ago

Paedophilia seemed weirdly acceptable right up until around 2000 or so. It's really quite surreal how commonplace it was.

[-] psion1369@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

I won't say acceptable, as there were still issues and such, but it was definitely persecuted differently.

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[-] DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca 24 points 2 months ago

Yes, Priscilla was 14.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago

Plenty of famous people were scumbags. Violent, racist, misogynist, beat up women, cheated, etc. From John Wayne to Frank Sinatra, they were awful human beings but people worship them.

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[-] BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee 17 points 2 months ago

Because he was famous, white and in america.

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[-] Boomkop3@reddthat.com 12 points 2 months ago

This, but also rape and other abuse was tolerated for some reason back then.

There is also a bit of a gender disparity for who is getting help now. Women can get help a lot more easy than men, and aren't as likely to be dismissed when they come forward.

Lets keep pushing in the right direction

[-] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 months ago

Well he managed to sell rock music to white people so we can look past that

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this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
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