# When was the first interracial kiss on TV in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [August 3, 2022, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012 "2022-08-03T11:06:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/21 "2022-08-03T15:05:02Z")
Moderating: This is Cafe society. This is not the place for political debates. This thread is a suitable place to mention any kiss that the poster considers interracial. If there might be any confusion as to the races involved (and you should always assume that there are readers who aren’t familiar with your topic, so in general, you should assume there might be such confusion) it’s helpful to mention the races of the people kissing. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/22 "2022-08-03T15:13:59Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > > > To put it mildly, this is oversimplified. Do you think Colored meant just Black and that Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans went to White schools, used White bathrooms, etc.? > > [Desi built his own resort hotel in the Coachella Valley because he wasn’t allowed in the White ones.](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/959609533) Specifically, the Indian Wells Resort Hotel. It’s still there and nice enough (stayed there during the tennis tournament). Lots of beautiful pictures of Desi and Lucy, even with them kissing! [https://indianwellsresort.com/](https://indianwellsresort.com/) (I’m not associated with the hotel in any way, except as a former customer, but two-clicking commercial link.) ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/23 "2022-08-03T15:22:15Z")
I bet the first ‘black’-white kiss happened earlier, unknowingly maybe even to the person involved. With the ridiculous ‘even one drop’ standard, someone didn’t ‘look black’ but had even a single black ancester many generations ago would have been considered black and might not know it if some ancestor along the line had decided to ‘pass.’ ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/24 "2022-08-03T15:24:42Z")
And the first Native American/White person kiss was probably played by two white people given the casting norms of the early westerns. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/25 "2022-08-03T15:34:55Z")
Because Star Trek was a Popular TV series in the 60s, Gene Roddenberry used it as his personal vehicle to voice his “political” values. Gene felt that 200 years in the future, human beings (if they didn’t all kill each other first) would be more accepting of others, and they would actually celebrate their differences. One way Gene accomplished this was by making the bridge crew interracial, even to the point of having an alien as First Officer. When Plato’s Stepchildren was sceduled to be aired, there was a frenzy in the South. Many TV stations protested to NBC because of the interracial kiss, and when the episode aired, some of those stations did not show it. I remember even reading in TV Guide magazine about the brouhaha. I don’t know if any of the other above-listed incidents of interracial kissing caused such a massive cry of outrage, leading to that episode being cancelled in certain market areas. There’s a reason for the incredible fandom of the Star Trek universe. Plato’s Stepchildren is just one of them. LLAP, ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/26 "2022-08-03T15:47:11Z")
> [@TheCuse](#): > > [First interracial kiss on television - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_interracial_kiss_on_television) I feel like one thing that should be said about that list is that if it’s not William Shatner, the man certainly seemed to be trying his damnedest to snag it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/27 "2022-08-03T15:50:54Z")
Even if you consider all racial divisions to be artificial, Shatner is still in the running because Captain Kirk made out with non-terrestrial females also. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/28 "2022-08-03T16:34:19Z")
I hope he didn’t just push for the Star Trek kiss with Nichols out of ego instead of wanted to stick it to the bigots. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/29 "2022-08-03T16:37:21Z")
@Love_Rhombus With Shat, at that time of his life, it was always ego. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/30 "2022-08-03T17:17:28Z")
Well, maybe not always ego. Let’s not rule out the possibility of libido, too. (IIRC, some reporter once asked him if he had any reluctance about the interracial kiss, and his response was something like “Are you kidding me? Have you seen Nichelle?”) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/31 "2022-08-03T18:23:58Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > > [@TheCuse](#): > > > > [First interracial kiss on television - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_interracial_kiss_on_television) > > I feel like one thing that should be said about that list is that if it’s not William Shatner, the man certainly seemed to be trying his damnedest to snag it. Yeah, I was impressed that of 10 potential “first interacial kiss on US television by this or that criterion” listings, William Shatner is in 4 of them. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/32 "2022-08-03T18:27:47Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yeah, I was impressed that of 10 potential “first interacial kiss on US television by this or that criterion” listings, William Shatner is in 4 of them. Hell of a Guinness record. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/33 "2022-08-03T18:30:54Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > With Shat, at that time of his life, it was always ego. There’s no telling his motivation, but apparently the two of them agreed that they wanted the kiss to air. > NBC finally ordered that two versions of the scene be shot—one in which Kirk and Uhura kissed and one in which they did not. Having successfully recorded the former version of the scene, Shatner and Nichelle Nichols deliberately flubbed every take of the latter version, thus forcing the episode to go out with the kiss intact. > **[Kirk and Uhura's kiss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_and_Uhura%27s_kiss)** > > In the episode of Star Trek: The Original Series titled "Plato's Stepchildren", season 3 episode 10, first broadcast November 22, 1968, Uhura (played by black actress Nichelle Nichols) and Captain Kirk (played by white actor William Shatner) kiss. The episode is often—incorrectly—cited as the first example of an interracial kiss on television. > The first interracial kiss on television is debated, with several examples identified in the 1950s. For example, Shatner had another interracial kiss more... ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/34 "2022-08-03T20:55:11Z")
@Telemark My reply with reference to William Shatner’s ego was in response to @Love_Rhombus post whether Shatner cooperated with the kissing scene out of ego, or to stick it to the bigots. And at that time, Shat was all about his ego. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/35 "2022-08-03T21:59:10Z")
I agree, but my point is that he and Nichols conspired together to ruin the takes. She may not have cared about his motivations, or they may have discussed it and decided together for upstanding reasons. Big ego doesn’t preclude additional motivtion to do the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/36 "2022-08-03T22:31:27Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > his damnedest to snag it I saw that on first reading as “his damnedest to shag it”. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/37 "2022-08-04T04:59:43Z")
@Monty 😤 (that’s what I chose for a snort) But that’s Shat, all right! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/38 "2022-08-04T08:00:43Z")
did you read the list that THE CUSE provided? All of the above you mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/39 "2022-08-04T08:06:18Z")
but Nichols was already sleeping with Roddenberry by that time ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012/40 "2022-08-04T08:13:26Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > There have never been white bathrooms and Hispanic bathrooms. If I recall, the bathrooms were labeled “white” and “colored” - if you weren’t considered white enough you were colored. So, in fact, there were plenty of places where Jim Crow lumped Hispanics in with Blacks. Not cool to diss someone’s personal/family experience, either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-interracial-kiss-on-tv-in-the-us/969012.md?page=3)