# Richard Dawson - sexual harrasment?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-dawson-sexual-harrasment/299313>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 14, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-dawson-sexual-harrasment/299313 "2005-04-14T17:16:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-dawson-sexual-harrasment/299313/41 "2016-10-23T17:32:00Z")

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> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> Add in the ten years+ since the OP.

Besides, he died in 2012.

> **[Richard Dawson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawson)**
>
> Richard Dawson (born Colin Lionel Emm; 20 November 1932 – 2 June 2012) was an English-American actor, comedian, game-show host, and panelist in the United States. Dawson was well known for playing Corporal Peter Newkirk in Hogan's Heroes, as a regular panelist on Match Game (1973–1978), and as the original host of Family Feud (1976–1985, 1994–95).
> Colin Lionel Emm was born in Gosport, Hampshire, England, on 20 November 1932 to Arthur Emm (born 1897) and Josephine Lucy Emm (née Lindsay; born 1...

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**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-dawson-sexual-harrasment/299313/42 "2016-10-23T18:05:08Z")

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> [@gdread](#):
>
> Dawson was a bigot, an ass, and a creep.

The fact that he was attracted more to white women does not make him a bigot. Sexual preferences have nothing to do with racism.

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**Author:** ![LiliesOfTheField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c0e974/32.png) [@LiliesOfTheField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiliesOfTheField)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-dawson-sexual-harrasment/299313/43 "2016-10-24T03:57:10Z")

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An interview with him years ago on GSN gave their version of how it worked. One day early in the show’s run, a woman said she was nervous. He offered her a “kiss for luck” which she enthusiastically accepted.

After that, the women on the show were asked beforehand whether they wanted a kiss on the lips, the hand, or the cheek. I don’t remember one of the options being “nope.”

One of episodes shows a very disturbing amount of sexual tension between Dawson and the woman contestant, particularly in the end game. They were practically undressing each other. It was so obvious as to be shocking.

From that interview, I learned that they became long term partners.

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