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.
Because no one cared about that 60 years 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.
The sad truth is that it was a very common practice. Just wait until they hear about Jerry Lee Lewis.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I said it was objectively terrible, I didn’t mention morals. :)
Harming people is terrible, whether or not social morality supports it.
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.
Have you not listened to songs from that era? They’re mostly about hooking up with underage girls.
Yeah, sweet seventeen by Chuck Berry also hits … as at the very least, creepy in 2024.
Don’t forget “Sweet Caroline” about an 11 y/o Caroline Kennedy. Fucking creep.
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….
For “She was just 17” Paul McCartney was only 21 when that song came out and was dating a 17 year old then. Might have written it when he was 20 and the age of consent in Britain in that time was 16. That’s only 3 or 4 years age difference. I don’t get weird vibes from that. The Beatles were young when they started.
Neil Sedaka’s “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” is one that gives me the strangest vibes.
Might you be thinking of “Sweet Little Sixteen” by Chuck Berry? The guy who btw installed cameras in women’s bathrooms?
Ah yes, that’s the one (oops).
Love the Beatles, mind you, but uhhhh… all of those boomer bands were like that.
Yeah, I like several Chuck Berry songs but … definitely a different take. Those songs would not fly today on the radio.
Wait until you find out about Jerry Lee Lewis…
While some want to litigate what Mohamed did in the 15th 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.
Do you have anything else I can wait for if I already know about all these things?
Go to the restaurant at the end of the universe and wait for the show there.
