Playboyfounder Hugh Hefner died on Wednesday, placing firm control of the magazine's creative culture in the hands of one of his sons, Cooper.
Cooper, just 25, is the chief creative officer. He provided a strong hint about the future of the magazine in the era of President Donald Trump during an interview last month with The Hollywood Reporter.
SEE ALSO: I went ghost hunting at Trump’s childhood home and found his secret brother in the fridge"We don't respect the guy," Cooper said. "There's a personal embarrassment because Trump is somebody who has been on our cover."
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The "We" implies both Cooper and his father, Hugh, though Trump was often around the Playboy Mansion. He and the late Hefner enjoyed enough of a relationship that Trump brought contestants on The Apprenticeto the mansion in 2006.
Cooper's dad reportedly had something of a falling out with Trump after the latter secured the Republican nomination for the presidency, and though it's not clear why, it may have something to do with Trump courting evangelicals and the Christian right on his way to the White House. Hefner, after all, founded Playboyin part as a counterweight to the United States's Christian conservatism. As a longtime vocal defender of LGBT rights, he probably also didn't enjoy Trump's selection for vice president, Mike Pence. Pence once tried to link LGBT couples to "societal collapse."
Trump, to no one's great surprise, is apparently very proud to have graced the magazine's cover. Last year he told The Washington Post, “I was one of the few men in the history of Playboyto be on the cover."
