Anderson: Blackmailed?

By Stephen M. Silverman

09/30/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

An Arizona man is under arrest by the feds for allegedly trying to blackmail comic Louis Anderson. Richard John Gordon, 31, was busted this week in Los Angeles, after allegedly extorting $75,000 from Anderson between 1997 and 1998 by claiming that the comic and host of TV's "Family Feud" sexually propositioned him. The New York Post reports that Anderson paid Gordon $75,000 -- and then Gordon demanded another $250,000. It was the later request, says the Post, that prompted Anderson to contact the authorities. In a letter to Anderson, Gordon accused the TV personality of making a pass at him at a casino is Southern California.