The joke was in the mainstream by this time. In the October 1972 edition of "MAD" magazine (issue no. 154), an article titled "When Watching Television, You Can be Sure of Seeing...", gossip columnist 'Rona Boring' states: "And there isn't a grain of truth to the vicious rumor that movie and TV star Rock Heman and singer Jim Nelly were secretly married! Rock and Jim are just good buddies! I repeat, they are not married! They are not even going steady!" Those who failed to get the joke spread the rumor, and as a result, Hudson and Nabors (then still not open) never spoke to each other again.