That’s a common myth. There were several others before, some of which also had Shatner as one half of the kissing pair, believe it or not. Trek’s was definitely more high-profile, though, and with several of the others it may have been hard to notice with that particular combination with the quality of televisions at the time; European man with Asian woman probably wasn’t noticeable on a tiny '50s black and white TV.
That’s a common myth. There were several others before, some of which also had Shatner as one half of the kissing pair, believe it or not. Trek’s was definitely more high-profile, though, and with several of the others it may have been hard to notice with that particular combination with the quality of televisions at the time; European man with Asian woman probably wasn’t noticeable on a tiny '50s black and white TV.