Streaking - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

Anonymously posted fliers proclaiming "Go Naked Week May 1–7" began appearing on University of Delaware campus bulletin boards in March, 1970. Events included the student newspaper's front-page photograph of a nude couple strolling hand in hand on the Mall, naked pyramid competitions between fraternities, and other, less documented, occurrences. As this was the week of the Kent State shootings, the University was temporarily shut down by its president, Edward Arthur Trabant, under the twin pressures of fully clothed anti-war demonstrators and naked heaps of the apolitical in front of Memorial Hall. Nevertheless, this led to a proposal in the Delaware State Senate to "shut down University funding due to the naked hippies protesting the war." The bill did not pass.

The high point of streaking's pop culture significance was in 1974, when thousands of streaks took place around the world. A wide range of novelty products were produced to cash in on the fad, from buttons and patches to a wristwatch featuring a streaking Richard Nixon, to pink underwear that said "Too shy to streak." The prominence of streaking in 1974 has been linked both to the sexual revolution and a conservative backlash against feminism and the campus protests of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Perhaps the most widely seen streaker in history was 34-year-old Robert Opel, who streaked across the stage flashing the peace sign on national US television at the 46th Academy Awards in 1974. Opel's run across the stage occurred with Niven mostly between him and the camera, so nothing below the waist was visible to the TV audience; a brief blurred view of Opel's genitalia at the edge of the frame was obscured by the overscan on most contemporary TV sets. Bemused host David Niven quipped, "Isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?" Later, evidence arose suggesting that Opel's appearance was facilitated as a publicity stunt by the show's producer Jack Haley, Jr. Robert Metzler, the show's business manager, believed that the incident had been planned in some way; during the dress rehearsal Niven had asked Metzler's wife to borrow a pen so he could write down the famous line, which was thus not the ad-lib it appeared to be. Niven's encounter with the streaker was voted the top Oscars moment by film fans in 2001.

Ray Stevens wrote and performed "The Streak", a novelty song about a man who is "always making the news / wearing just his tennis shoes". The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1974. Randy Newman also performed and wrote a song about streaking, "The Naked Man", which appears on his album Good Old Boys.

At the peak of the fad, mainstream comic strip Peanuts got into the act, with Snoopy shedding the only clothing he wore: his dog collar and his "Joe Cool" sunglasses.

1970s sitcom Three's Company had an episode in which Larry streaked at a party in Jack's apartment. In another episode, Janet, Chrissy, and Mrs. Roper participated in a group nudity protest against a public beach's dress code; at risk of arrest and unable to retrieve their clothes, they had to streak a considerable distance back to the apartment.

In 'Genesis (Part 1)', the pilot episode of Quantum Leap, Sam Beckett wrote that he was expelled from college for streaking.

In a 1993 NBC Special The 70s: The Beat Is Back, actor/comedian Martin Mull was on stage talking about his personal contributions to the 70s when a male streaker (in a possible pre-planned stunt similar to the '74 Oscars) ran through the audience, and then ran up on stage and shook Mull's hand before taking off.

The band Blink-182, in their 1999 music video for "What's My Age Again?", ran across the pavement with their pubic region and buttocks digitally blurred out. In response to the resurgence of streaking starting in the 1990s, Blink-182 performance artist John Hassel (popularly known as "Bunboy") and others argue that streaking should be considered an art form in and of itself.

In 2003, streaking came to the forefront in New Zealand when television presenter Mark Ellis offered a monetary reward for anyone who streaked in front of Prime Minister Helen Clark. This was part of Ellis' National Nude Day. A TV program he presented, Hyundai Sports Cafe, regularly promoted nudity and asked for people to send in nude exploits for an annual "National Nude Day" competition, including a The Lord of the Rings parody by nude actors, and 30 naked ballet dancers (both male and female) performing in front of the University of Otago main building.

In 2007 an ironic viral video for an Australian clothing company entitled 'Streakers love story' featured two streakers who fell in love on opposite sides of the world and met for the first time by streaking into each other's arms at a soccer match.

An episode of the sitcom That '70s Show had the main character Eric Forman wearing a Richard Nixon mask and streaking while Pres. Gerald Ford was speaking to his town.

During the film Old School, Will Ferrell gets drunk and tries to get everybody at a party to streak, but it backfires and Ferrell ends up being the only person to do so.

During the second episode of the 2001 animated comedy Undergrads, the main character Nitz grapples with the tradition of the "Exposed Expo" at his college, State U. After the first snowfall at his college, it is tradition for the freshmen to run around the campus in the nude.

The fifth film of the American Pie film series is American Pie Presents the Naked Mile.

In the video game Saint's Row 2, the player can choose to streak or during game play, random NPC streak as well.

During The Weather Channel coverage of Hurricane Irene, many streakers passed by a live shot, with one of them eventually pulling down his shorts and flashing the camera.

The 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony was interrupted by a streaker named David Monahan while Hayden Panettiere was presenting the award for Best Song, with his fully uncensored genitals broadcast live around the world.

On The Simpsons episode "The Way We Was", Homer recalls the time that Barney streaked through the senior prom.

In the torch relay for the London 2012 Olympic Games, a streaker runs past just in front of the torch, whilst it is in Kent.