C. Everett Koop

As 1982 continued in the US, the issue regarding video games made it to higher levels and offices, all the way to the US Surgeon General.

A November 1982 New York Times article shares that Dr. C. Everett Koop, the US Surgeon General at the time, said that video games might be hazardous to the health of young people.

He said that kids are, quote, "becoming addicted to the machines body and soul." He warns that, quote, "More and more people are beginning to understand the adverse mental and physical effects of video games." Unquote.

Who knew Q*bert could be so damaging? But then the Surgeon General makes a pretty interesting statement.

And along the way, he developed friendships with some of the most recognizable figures in America, some of the most famous musicians, celebrities such as John Mellencamp, Elton John, Michael Jackson.

He also became friends with actor Matt Frewer, Olympic diver Greg Louganis, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan, Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop, Indiana Uver- University basketball coach Bob Knight, and the basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Now, this was a time when people were afraid to even touch someone with AIDS, so these public figures demonstrated that friendship and ordinary human contact were not something for the public to fear.

Now, Ryan had this huge celebrity crush on Alyssa Milano at the time when she was big on Who's the Boss? He had the biggest crush on her, and he got to meet her, and she came up to him, she kissed him, she gave him a friendship bracelet.

I mean, how convenient that the disease was eradicating something they didn't like, the gay community.

If all that wasn't bad enough, Ronnie's surgeon general, C. Everett Koop, was actively forbidden to say anything about AIDS, and he stayed completely silent for the first five and a half years of the presidency.

But he had to know, he had to know what was going on.

I mean, come on.

Sure.

Uh, C. Everett Koop, our favorite President Reagan sur- surgeon general, and who is maybe the most famous person to ever hold that job, publicly named video games as one of the top dangers to children.

He even singled out Missile Command specifically-

[laughs]

AI said that.

Well, so did C. Everett Koop and so did Dr. Spock, the famous baby doctor.

Both of those gentlemen said it too.

And C. Everett Koop was fired a month later as the United States Surgeon General.

And I don't know where Dr. Spock is today.

But I'm looking at that.

on the cigarettes, the Surgeon General's warning.

And the only Surgeon General I really ever knew was C. Everett Koop with his cool beard.

So every Surgeon General to me is C. Everett Koop.

So C. Everett Koop and his Abraham Lincoln beard put the big pack on the cigarettes that said, warning, smoking can cause a lot of bad stuff if you're not pregnant.

And if you're pregnant, it can cause your baby to die or be deformed.

People still smoked.