BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Hugh Hefner's son, Cooper, says Playboy fumbled when it decided to stop publishing naked pics in its iconic magazine.
In a change of policy, Playboy magazine did not include a single fully nude picture in their March edition for the first time.
Cooper Hefner, in a video interview with Business Insider, indicated that he didn’t see eye-to-eye with Playboy Enterprises CEO Scott Flanders.
“When you have a company and the founder is responsible for kick-starting the sexual revolution and then you pluck out that aspect of the company's DNA by removing the nudity, it makes a lot of people including me sit and say, 'What the hell is the company doing?’”
He said that he was once an integral part of his father's empire and would regularly attend board meetings, but “I was essentially asked to no longer participate in the board meetings because I didn't agree with [Flanders’] vision for the company.”
Hefner also slammed the recent decision to put the Playboy mansion on the market for $200 million in an attempt to raise extra cash.
Hefner said it is one of “the most famous residences in the world,” and that “it really represents the brand.”
“To take that asset away from the company is really devastating,” he said.
Hefner, 24, now is chief creative officer of Hop, a media brand geared toward millennials.
One of the top postings yesterday was a story with the headline, “Playboy Without a Hefner,” in which he slams Flanders’ leadership.
Hefner also posted a “blueprint,” outlining his ideas for a perked up Playboy magazine. Those include bringing back nude models while focusing on “their personality as much as their sexuality.”
