Playboy was caught blushing after an April Fool’s Day joke in one of its international editions backfired.
Editors say an article titled “How to Beat Your Wife … Without Leaving Marks On Her Body” was intended to tickle the bunny bones of Romanian readers.
Instead, the piece in April’s Playboy Romania left Christie Hefner, chairwoman and CEO of the adult entertainment empire, hopping mad.
“Playboy Romania is a relatively new international edition for us, and it is likely that its local editor did not thoroughly grasp the harm such an article could cause,” said Hefner. “This, however, does not excuse his profound lapse in judgment.”
The Romanian editor-in-chief, the deputy editor-in-chief and the author were reprimanded, and international editor David Walker flew to Bucharest to speak with the staff, said spokeswoman Cindy Rakowitz.
“They egregiously violated the standards of Playboy’s editorial guidelines,” Rakowitz said. “We make it our duty to stay away from violence.”
Mihnea Vasiliu, managing editor of PBR Publishing & Media Pro Group, the company which publishes the Romanian version of Playboy, fessed up.
“I admit that its publishing was a huge mistake,” he said, adding that an apology will be printed in the May issue.
This isn’t the first time that controversy has swirled around the Romanian edition, the latest in Playboy’s stable.
In December, the men’s mag paid Romanian gymnast Corina Ungureanu bonus money owed to her by the Romanian Gymnastic Federation.
The national athletic association deemed her dare-to-be-bare behavior in January’s issue unethical.