A day that will live in infamy, The Doors on Classic Cuts

Did he or Didn't He: The show was in Coconut Grove. 12,000 gathered to see one of the biggest bands in America at that time on March 1st 1969. Lead singer and founding member of the Doors, the late Jim Morrison was arrested for exposing himself in front of the crowd at Dinner Key Auditorium.  The crowd was said to be stunned. Morrison and the band denied the incident happened. Doors guitarist Robby Krieger still today says that no photographic evidence has ever surfaced to prove it actually happened..

Jim Morrison was arrested Sept. 20, 1970 and charged with exposing himself in front of the crowd at The Doors show. Morrison rejected a plea bargain and was judged guilty of indecent exposure and open profanity and and was then sentenced to jail and ordered to pay a fine. 

Robby Krieger was quoted at the time “They were complaining about Jim whipping it out onstage, which he didn’t do: 500 photos were entered as evidence at the trial and not one showed anything of the sort.   I think it was all very politically motivated. People were running for office, so we were a good target.”

Miami Herald's reporter, Larry Mahoney didn't see it that way. His story said, "Many of the nearly 12,0000 thousand youths said they found the bearded singer’s exhibition disgusting. Included in the audience were hundreds of unescorted junior and senior high school girls. ... Morrison appeared to masturbate in full view of the audience, screamed obscenities, and exposed himself."

Jim Morrison appealed his sentence and no resolution had been reached in the case when he passed away July 3, 1971, at the age of 27 of heart failure. The case resurfaced decades later when then  Florida Governor Charlie Crist along with the State Clemency board issued a posthumous pardon to Morrison.


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