Contrary to the newness associated with Arsenio Hall’s late-night talk show, he’s been here before. With that being said, it’s pretty clear that hosting a show (for the second time) requires a toughness seen by no other host. Back in either 1993 or 1994, while hosting his show, Hall was heckled by multiple protesters while performing his opening routine. Instead of shying away from the controversy, he walked up to them to hear them out right before he dismissed their claims. Check it out after the jump.
It seems that the group was protesting for gay rights at the time. They asked Arsenio why he refused to have any gay guests on the show. He responds that, “there are a lot of gay guests who really don’t like to talk about their sexual preference.” After that, he proclaims that “this ain’t Merv… this ain’t Johhny. I ain’t gon’ run from it, I’m going to deal with it.” Speaking of the Merv Griffin show and the Late Show With Johhny Carson, it seemed that Arsenio was the victim of reaching. He alerted the disruptive guests that he could never discriminate based on sexual preference and that a guest’s sexual preference doesn’t matter. Check out the video below.
*PHOTOS IN GALLERY ABOVE*
