London:
Hugh Hefner was faced with severe criticism from feminist protesters during the recent re-launch of his Playboy Club, who accused him of being "sexist".
The 84-year-old magazine mogul reopened the venue three decades after the original club closed and was confronted by the feminist group 'Object', who protested against the venue's saucy bunny costumes, reported the Daily Star online.
Hefner, who flew to the UK to hold the grand opening party at the Mayfair district, received a fiery red carpet welcome.
The demonstrators, some dressed in bunny costumes, carried signs which read "I am hopping mad" and "Eff off Heff".
A spokesperson for the organisation said, "This signifies a worrying step backwards in the quest for equality between the sexes. Sexualising and objectifying women as bunny rabbits is not sexy and it is not empowering. It is sexist."
However Hefner, who was accompanied by fiancée Chrystal Harris, appeared unmoved by the protest.
"Playboy and the Playboy clubs were the end of sexism. Women were being held in bondage for hundreds of years, owned first by their fathers and then their husbands. Playboy helped to change all that. It's what the sexual revolution was all about," said Hefner.
The 84-year-old magazine mogul reopened the venue three decades after the original club closed and was confronted by the feminist group 'Object', who protested against the venue's saucy bunny costumes, reported the Daily Star online.
Hefner, who flew to the UK to hold the grand opening party at the Mayfair district, received a fiery red carpet welcome.
The demonstrators, some dressed in bunny costumes, carried signs which read "I am hopping mad" and "Eff off Heff".
A spokesperson for the organisation said, "This signifies a worrying step backwards in the quest for equality between the sexes. Sexualising and objectifying women as bunny rabbits is not sexy and it is not empowering. It is sexist."
However Hefner, who was accompanied by fiancée Chrystal Harris, appeared unmoved by the protest.
"Playboy and the Playboy clubs were the end of sexism. Women were being held in bondage for hundreds of years, owned first by their fathers and then their husbands. Playboy helped to change all that. It's what the sexual revolution was all about," said Hefner.
