Lauer: Reagan-Era “Sexual McCarthyism” Preceded Hefner’s Stroke (Hef's Stroke Blamed On Reagan)

Media Research Center ^ | December 5, 2003 | Brent Baker

[PJ-Comix]

     Hugh Hefner’s stroke was the fault of Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell? During a taped interview with Playboy founder High Hefner on Thursday’s Today to mark the magazine’s 50th anniversary, Matt Lauer reminded him of the days after Reagan’s inauguration: "I think you refer to it as we went through in this country a period of 'sexual McCarthyism.’" After Hefner identified Reagan and the Moral Majority as threats to him, Lauer, over footage of Jerry Falwell and anti-pornography protestors, recalled: "The backlash against Playboy was expensive. Hefner and the magazine were marginalized. By mid-decade he suffered a stroke."

     MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens caught this part of the interview on the December 4 Today, which Lauer co-hosted from Burbank, in which Hefner played a martyr to the tyrannical Reagan. The segment mixed video which Lauer narrated with clips of Hefner talking to Lauer:

     Lauer: "With the 1980s the party slowed-"
     [footage of Reagans at inauguration]
     Lauer: "-for Hefner and for the country. Not the best time for Playboy."
     Hefner: "No. Tough time."
     Lauer helpfully reminded Hefner: "I think you refer to it as we went through in this country a period of sexual McCarthyism."
     Hefner: "Yes."
     Lauer: "What threats did you see?"
     Hefner: "Reagan was in the White House, put there, in part, by the Moral Majority. I really didn't know how, how to respond to the forms of criticism that were taking place in the 1980s."
     Lauer, over footage of Jerry Falwell and anti-pornography protestors: "The backlash against Playboy was expensive. Hefner and the magazine were marginalized. By mid-decade he suffered a stroke."

[GeorgiaMike]

I thought the McCarthy era at Playboy was in 1993 or 1994, with Jenny McCarthy.

[Servant of the 9]

Chris Wallace, Fox News newest attempt to convert a Liberal, was on the tube a while ago. He said he covered the Reagan Whitehouse and that Reagan was nothing like the man portrayed in the CBS/Showtime movie.
Said a loser like the one portrayed in the movie could never have been elected Gov. of California, much less President.

So9

[TheMole]

Are you saying that Hefner watched gay porn?

Well, that's the way the story reads. Check the link. Now, it's "hearsay" in that it's what the client says the twin Playmate told him. It sounds fairly plausible to me, with the caveat that "gay" in this case just might mean lesbian. In terms of the effect on a person of long-term use of pornography leading to addiction/dependence on stimuli and alienation from actual human relationships, it's all too believable.