Hugh Hefner defends Bill Cosby against Playboy bunny rape accusations

Bill Cosby has been accused of sexual misconduct and outright rape by at least two women who’ve connected him with the world-famous Playboy Mansion–and now that Mansion’s most famous resident has spoken out strongly against the accusations.

Hugh Hefner, 88, who founded the Playboy empire in 1953, referred to the behavior of the accusers as saddening, but did not speak out against Cosby, whom he has known for many years. Hef’s statement was quick and to the point:

 

Bill Cosby has been a good friend for many years and the mere thought of these allegations is truly saddening. I would never tolerate this kind of behavior, regardless of who was involved.

 

Hefner’s wife Crystal, 28, did not issue a statement.

The first of two accusations made against Cosby and involving the Playboy Mansion comes from Judy Huth, who is the plaintiff in a civil suit against Cosby. Huth claims that Cosby molested her at a Playboy party–to which he took her–when she was fifteen years old. Huth further claims that Cosby molested her sixteen-year-old friend at the same party.

The second accusation is both newer and even more serious. Former Playboy bunny P.J. Masten says that Cosby lured her to a Chicago hotel room and raped her in 1979.

Masten was working at the original Playboy Club at the time. She says that when she arrived at Cosby’s hotel room, he offered her a drink:

 

I don’t remember anything after I drank it. The next thing I knew it was 4 o’clock in the morning and I woke up naked with this disgusting man next to me….I have no idea what he gave me, but I woke up feeling very groggy and very sore. I knew I had been raped.

 

Masten further claims that she knows of “a dozen former bunnies” who have “similar” stories, but, for an assortment of reasons, are afraid to come forward.

It is perhaps worth pointing out that Masten was one of the women whose claims of sexual abuse against sportscaster Marv Albert led to his 1997 misconduct trial.

Among other ties to the Playboy name, Cosby was the emcee of the Playboy Jazz Festival from 1979 until 2012.