29. That Time When Wayne Newton Smacked Johnny Carson Around
Johnny Carson was sweetness and sunshine while he was on the air, and the epitome of the friendly guy you’d like to have as a neighbor. Away from the cameras and his adoring audience, however, Carson was a total jerk, given to bullying and abusing others, and even physically assaulting people in fits of rage. Examples of Carson being a jackass include an attempt to strangle NBC colleague Tom Snyder, refusing to visit his son who was institutionalized in a mental asylum and verbally and physically abusing his wives.
Many celebrities subjected to Carson’s abuse stayed quiet to protect their careers from the notoriously vindictive icon. An exception was singer and actor Wayne Newton, who resented Carson’s cracking gay jokes about him on national TV. Newton, thinking that they were buddies, begged Carson to cut it off, but Carson persisted. So an incensed Newton barged into Carson’s office, and slapped him around silly. It was one of the few times that Carson got his comeuppance. The Newton-is-gay jokes stopped.
