Gary Glitter vs Jerry Lee Lewis

[Phil D. Rolls]

Jerry Lee Lewis was hounded out of Britain when he showed up with his 14 year old wife (legally married in their home state).

Gary Glitter was hounded because of underage sex.

One seems to be more hated than the other. Why is that?

[CropleyWasGod]

Jerry Lee Lewis was hounded out of Britain when he showed up with his 14 year old wife (legally married in their home state).

Gary Glitter was hounded because of underage sex.

One seems to be more hated than the other. Why is that?

Coercion vs consent ?

Or just better songs?

[Phil D. Rolls]

Coercion vs consent ?

Or just better songs?

How do you give informed consent at 14?

It's funny about the songs, I notice that Rock n Roll Pt 2 still gets played at American sporting events. Obviously, the notoriety hasn't reached the states.

[Toaods]

WOW....what a bland life I have led compared to this soap opera.....


[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jerry_Lee_Lewis&action=edit&section=3)] Family

Lewis has been married six times.[15] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Lee_Lewis#cite_note-14) First to Dorothy Barton for 20 months from February 1952 to October 1953. His second marriage to Jane Mitchum was of dubious validity because it occurred 23 days before his divorce from Barton was final. They were married 4 years from September 1953 to October 1957. They had two children. He then married Myra Lewis in December 1957. She was his first cousin once removed, and thirteen at the time of the marriage. This marriage caused a scandal which destroyed his career for a decade. They had two children and divorced in December 1970 after 13 years of marriage. His fourth marriage was to Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate, and ended when she drowned in the swimming pool at their home. They were married for 11 years from October 1971 to August 1983,[clarification needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify)] and had one child. His fifth wife was Shawn Stephens. This marriage ended with her death from a drug overdose. They were married for three months, from June to August 1984. His sixth marriage was to Kerrie McCarver, with whom he had one child. This marriage lasted 20 years and ended in divorce in 2004.
Lewis has had six children (two have no information known to be published). In 1962, his son Steve Allen Lewis drowned in a swimming pool accident when he was three, and in 1973 Jerry Lee Lewis, Jr. was killed in a car accident at the age of 14. His current living children are a daughter, Phoebe Lewis, and a son, Jerry Lee Lewis III.

[Hibs Class]

Jerry Lee Lewis was hounded out of Britain when he showed up with his 14 year old wife (legally married in their home state).

Gary Glitter was hounded because of underage sex.

One seems to be more hated than the other. Why is that?

This is a quite astonishing opening post! Gary Glitter was not hounded because of underage sex; he was initially hounded after being found with, and subsequently convicted of having, "4,000 hardcore photographs of children being abused" - that's in quotes as it is the first sentence in this report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/517604.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/517604.stm)

He was then subsequently convicted of "obscene acts" with girls aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam. This was assumed to be rape, but he wasn't convicted of that. Whether this contributed to him being more hated / hounded than he already was is a somewhat spurious question.

In comparison, Jerry Lee Lewis was, as you point out, legally married. No real comparison whatsoever.

[CropleyWasGod]

This is a quite astonishing opening post! Gary Glitter was not hounded because of underage sex; he was initially hounded after being found with, and subsequently convicted of having, "4,000 hardcore photographs of children being abused" - that's in quotes as it is the first sentence in this report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/517604.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/517604.stm)

He was then subsequently convicted of "obscene acts" with girls aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam. This was assumed to be rape, but he wasn't convicted of that. Whether this contributed to him being more hated / hounded than he already was is a somewhat spurious question.

In comparison, Jerry Lee Lewis was, as you point out, legally married. No real comparison whatsoever.

FR is throwing it out there for debate. He's not, IMO, taking any stance.

In any event, I think it's the moral debate that is the more interesting, rather than the legal one.

[Phil D. Rolls]

This is a quite astonishing opening post! Gary Glitter was not hounded because of underage sex; he was initially hounded after being found with, and subsequently convicted of having, "4,000 hardcore photographs of children being abused" - that's in quotes as it is the first sentence in this report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/517604.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/517604.stm)

He was then subsequently convicted of "obscene acts" with girls aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam. This was assumed to be rape, but he wasn't convicted of that. Whether this contributed to him being more hated / hounded than he already was is a somewhat spurious question.

In comparison, Jerry Lee Lewis was, as you point out, legally married. No real comparison whatsoever.

Unless of course you consider the fact that they both had sex below the age of consent. I don't think many people would consider it appropriate for an adult to have sex with minor, yet in Tennessee and possiby Vietnam it doesn't have the same stigma.

It's puzzling.

[Killiehibbie]

Unless of course you consider the fact that they both had sex below the age of consent. I don't think many people would consider it appropriate for an adult to have sex with minor, yet in Tennessee and possiby Vietnam it doesn't have the same stigma.

It's puzzling.

I think it depends if you view the law as being right. If the legal age of consent is 12, in a foreign country, does that make it ok for me and you both over 40 to have sex with 14 year olds in that country? I think not in the same way I don't want to have sex with 17 year olds, even though it's legal I don't think it's right. On the other hand if I was 18.

[J-C]

Lewis had 1 wife who was under our legal age, can't see anything about the other 5 wives he had and their ages?

Glitter was a convicted paedophile who got his kicks from looking at obscene child pornography and then took the oppertunity to go to Vietnam and abuse children as young as 10 yrs old.

Both are wrong on every count but Lewis was acting under the laws of that state at the time, which legally makes him ok, not that I think it was :confused:
Glitter was wrong on all counts and should've stayed in jail longer than he did.

[Phil D. Rolls]

Lewis had 1 wife who was under our legal age, can't see anything about the other 5 wives he had and their ages?

Glitter was a convicted paedophile who got his kicks from looking at obscene child pornography and then took the oppertunity to go to Vietnam and abuse children as young as 10 yrs old.

Both are wrong on every count but Lewis was acting under the laws of that state at the time, which legally makes him ok, not that I think it was :confused:
Glitter was wrong on all counts and should've stayed in jail longer than he did.

:agree:

You're right, they are both wrong. I can't see any difference tbh - although you could argue that the fourteen year old was physically mature, which in a sense makes Glitter worse.

What has puzzled me is that Jerry Lee has never had to deal with the same revulsion.

[Hibs Class]

Unless of course you consider the fact that they both had sex below the age of consent. I don't think many people would consider it appropriate for an adult to have sex with minor, yet in Tennessee and possiby Vietnam it doesn't have the same stigma.

It's puzzling.


I'm happy to be corrected, but my understanding is that there is no global age of consent. All examples quoted would be illegal in this country but not necessarily elsewhere. My main point, however, was that it wasn't underage sex that Glitter was initially prosecuted for, but possession of thousands of pictures depicting hardcore child abuse. The demand for such images by people such as Glitter is one of the reasons that such abuse of children continues, and Glitter is as culpable in these crimes as those who take / distribute the photos.

Without defending Lewis, I still think these are two such different examples that they bear little comparison.

[Phil D. Rolls]

I'm happy to be corrected, but my understanding is that there is no global age of consent. All examples quoted would be illegal in this country but not necessarily elsewhere. My main point, however, was that it wasn't underage sex that Glitter was initially prosecuted for, but possession of thousands of pictures depicting hardcore child abuse. The demand for such images by people such as Glitter is one of the reasons that such abuse of children continues, and Glitter is as culpable in these crimes as those who take / distribute the photos.

Without defending Lewis, I still think these are two such different examples that they bear little comparison.

I think you're probably right. Glitter's offence was much worse, and - as you say - there was consent in the Jerry Lee case.

[Dashing Bob S]

Elvis was (allegedly) banging the 14 year old Priscilla in Germany with her parents consent. Where does the King fit into this?

[Killiehibbie]

Elvis was (allegedly) banging the 14 year old Priscilla in Germany with her parents consent. Where does the King fit into this?
He was from the South as well must be alright, if her Mama knew.

[Leicester Fan]

Elvis was (allegedly) banging the 14 year old Priscilla in Germany with her parents consent. Where does the King fit into this?
Priscilla's front bottom:rolleyes:. Have a word with your father he'll explain it to you.

[An Leargaidh]

I think you're probably right. Glitter's offence was much worse, and - as you say - there was consent in the Jerry Lee case.

Before my time but I watched a documentary about Jerry Lee Lewis once. He broke no laws. His wife (the "child" one we are discussing) was the legal age for marriage/consent in their home state in the US. So far so good, Jerry and Mrs. Lewis can step off the good foot and do the bad thing. No-one gets lynched.

Then the Lewis Rock'n'Roll showcase rolled (pun not intended) into the UK on tour. His legal wife and bed partner was well underage by British standards and according to the documentary, the "British authorities" (not sure who, Police? Immigration? Child Services or whatever they were called in those days) made Jerry Lee sleep in a separate room (it may even have been a separate building) from his legally married wife whilst he was touring in the UK.

At no point, IIRC, did Jerry Lee Lewis break any laws in his home state and was not allowed the chance to do so in the UK.

Several other posters have already listed the heinous paedophillic activities of Paul Gadd, aka Gary Glitter. In short, Jerry Lee Lewis was a rock'n'roll star with a very young and legal wife and Gary Glitter is a convicted paedophile :agree: