Hustler publisher Larry Flynt thinks rival Playboy’s move from lewd to prude is nuts.
“How do you take the most important feature in your magazine and drop it?” Flynt pondered Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”
He also suggested that Playboy boss Hugh Hefner is losing it. “You know, Hefner is 99. I knew he was getting old but I didn’t know he lost his mind,” Flynt told host Brian Stelter. (For the record, Hefner is actually 89.)
As TheWrap previously reported, Playboy’s parent company announced last week that the publication will no longer publish fully nude photos of women as part of an redesign set to take place in March.
According to media reports, Playboy editor Cory Jones approached magazine founder Hugh Hefner last month with the idea to drop nude photos from the print edition. Hefner, who is still listed on the masthead as editor in chief, gave the idea his blessing.
Playboy’s print circulation, once measured in the millions, is now about 800,000, according to Alliance for Audited Media. However, Flynt says losing the nudes won’t solve the magazine’s problems.
“I think it was a silly move. They need to change their financial blueprint,” he explained. “You have to run a magazine like a business. When you lose revenue, you got to cut your fixed cost.”
Flynt also suggested that Playboy’s staff is bloated.
“To give you an example, my editorial staff is seven. His is probably between 40 and 50. I make a profit, yet he’s losing money every month. That’s the story right there.”
Playboy was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hefner and his associates. Over the years, some of the biggest names in Hollywood have posed for the men’s magazine including Marilyn Monroe, Kim Basinger and Farrah Fawcett.
Watch the video below of Flynt on CNN.