[imagesource: Murray / Getty Images North America / Getty Images for Playboy]

“We are living in a moment when the First Amendment and the free press are under attack. Please join us for a celebration of free speech,” reads the invite for a party lauding Hugh Hefner’s legacy.

Tonight’s party in New York is co-hosted by Hefner’s daughter, Christie, with Columbia Journalism Review editor and publisher Kyle Pope in cahoots.

The event is being held to celebrate the release of lawyer Stuart N. Brotman’s new book, which honours Hugh Hefner’s commitment to saying whatever the hell you like.

Except, a few ex-Playboy Playmates, who in the controversial A&E’s docu-series Secrets of Playboy mentioned all the ways that Hefner actually silenced and controlled them, are in absolute shock that such a party has been planned.

Sure, Hefner had a massive impact on the free press, but he was also allegedly merciless behind closed doors, silencing and intimidating his girlfriends and Playboy Playmates from speaking out about his alleged abuse and misconduct.

The Daily Beast‘s Confider series has more surrounding the latest outrage:

“There is no freedom of speech in the world of Playboy. Playmates have been kept quiet since the beginning—unless you’re singing his or Playboy’s praises, of course,” said Sondra Theodore, a former Hefner girlfriend who has accused Hefner of “grooming” young women and keeping tapes on them to silence them.

“No way can this celebration go on uninterrupted. It’s a farce,” she added.

Another ex-Playmate, who accused Hefner of drugging and raping her when she was 18, Susie Scott Krabacher, said she was terribly upset because “this man used and broke so many women”.

Agreeing that the book party needs to be cancelled, ex-Playmate Miki Garcia also felt that Hefner stole her right to free speech when he stopped her from writing about him allegedly drugging women.

Jennifer Saginor, who once wrote a memoir about her childhood at the Playboy Mansion, explained that the late mogul was indeed two things at once: “a free-speech hero in public and an alleged abuser and silencer behind the scenes”:

“I was silenced when my memoir, Playground, came out,” she said, referring to her previous claim that Hefner got all her 2005 promotional events canceled. “I believe there is truth to the hypocrisy that should be noted by all: The irony of being silenced by the ‘king of the First Amendment’ demonstrates the true nature of our culture and abuse of power in our society.”

Meanwhile, Hefner’s family and daughter remain loyal to his legacy, continuing to work in the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation, which gives out annual awards to professionals working in favour of free speech.

[source:dailybeast]