A Florida Judge Threatened To Arrest Elvis For His Trademark Hip-Swiveling
According to Elvis’s then-girlfriend June Juanico, Elvis’s gyrations were so threatening they were deemed unacceptable for a teenage audience, and a Florida judge warned The King would be arrested if performed this way during his 1956 shows in Jacksonville. With the judge in attendance, Elvis remained stationary, but waggled his finger suggestively.
It can’t be overstated how brazenly sexual Elvis’s performances seemed at the time; jazz musician Eddie Condon referred to him as “behaving like a sex maniac” in front of millions of kids.