I heard two jock-talkers on Denver AM radio in August of 2018, complaining that the Dodgers “Kiss-Cam” was not nearly as spontaneous as people at Dodger Stadium might think. It turns out that the kiss-cam crew goes around to appealing people and families, has them re-arrange their seating order (if need be) and gives the woman time to put on make up and prettify their hair. We can assume the men do some primping as well. So, what appears to be a spontaneous kiss based on the sudden shock and recognition that the camera has focused in on them –– to the exclusion of all other potential kissers at the game –– is actually something that the kissers have had time to prepare for.
Funny questions come to mind for couples tagged for the Kiss-Cam who have time to get ready, such as “Shall we French kiss? How long?” As related on NPR a few years ago, “the Jumbotrons started, we think, in the ’80s or ’90s, around the time that Jumbotrons did. The Kiss Cam comes and it is unpredictable. And one of the things I love about it is that it is one of the few areas in media today where you really do see real people. They don’t have stylists. There’s no makeup.”
Not so, or at least not at Dodger Stadium. Perfectly legal, we can say, to pick and prep the kissers on the Kiss-Cam. But wrong? Okay, it’s misleading, but of course this is pretty much no big deal. And many people already get it that a lot of Kiss-Cam takes are fake.
https://uproxx.com/sports/fake-kiss-cam-videos/
Maybe the only harm is if the kiss really is spontaneous, and the couple is there secretly, away from their significant others, and are seen in living color by those who suddenly know of their canoodling ways. Back in the 1960s, a patron at Cowboy Stadium tried to sue the organization for televising fans and “invading their privacy.” He was with “another woman” and his wife, watching the football game on television, saw her husband kissing the other woman. Divorce followed, and the lawsuit failed (your expectations of privacy are limited in public places). We can assume he was hoping to shore up his finances with the lawsuit, knowing he would be paying alimony.
Another ethical question arises from those who wonder why kiss-cams tend to focus exclusively on heterosexual couples.
https://deadspin.com/the-kiss-cam-and-american-sports-fans-a-slightly-awkwa-1523113498
Back to the Dodgers, then, whose Kiss Cam in 2015 featured gay men kissing.
Was it pre-arranged? If so, it was perfectly legal, and perhaps even meant to right a wrong from many years earlier. When Danielle Goldey and Meredith Kott went to the Los Angeles Dodgers game on Aug. 8, 2000, they smooched during the game and were quickly surrounded by eight security guards. A man had complained to the security guards, who escorted the ladies away, allegedly saying kids should not be exposed to “those people.”
The couple went to their lawyer, but the Dodgers didn’t simply apologize: they donated 5,000 tickets to gay-rights groups and put Goldey and Kott in seats behind home plate to make up for the lost game.
With those tickets, a month later on Sept. 6, 2000, GLAAD and the LA Gay & Lesbian Center co-hosted “Gay and Lesbian Night at Dodger Stadium,” which is believed to be the first “gay night” at a pro baseball game.
Ironically, for some people in the U.S., gay and lesbian nights at the stadium, and kissing cams featuring gay couples are now perfectly legal, but wrong. In some nations, having gay sexual relationships is a crime punishable by death.