Girls Gone Wild founder a little too wild?

August 7, 2006 at 11:34 am in Entertainment

In an L.A. Times article this weekend, reporter Claire Hoffman gets a rather unpleasant look into the life of “Girls Gone Wild” creator Joe Francis:

He has turned on me, and I don’t know why. He’s going on and on about Panama City Beach, the spring break spot in northern Florida where Bay County sheriff’s deputies arrested him three years ago on charges of racketeering, drug trafficking and promoting the sexual performance of a child. As he yells, I wonder if this is a flashback, or if he’s punishing me for being the only blond in sight who’s not wearing a thong. This much is certain: He’s got at least 80 pounds on me and I’m thinking he’s about to break my left arm. My eyes start to stream tears.

The rest of the article contains behavior that is even more appalling, including a somewhat muddled accusation of date rape from a GGW participant. While I find “Girls Gone Wild” unappealing from a consumer perspective, I don’t necessarily have a problem with the concept – if these girls want to take their tops off for a few minutes of screen time and a t-shirt, more power to them – but this article sheds light on a side of the GGW empire that makes it even more unappealing.

via boing boing

4 Comments »

http://www.communicatrix.com Colleen

I know I’m probably going to get a sh*tstorm hailed down on me for this, but I was a little disappointed in the reportage on this one. First, a reporter covering something called “Girls Gone Wild” is clearly leaving herself open to criticism by drinking with her subjects, even if it was only two (foul-sounding!) cocktails that she “nursed all evening”. It’s just unprofessional, given the circumstances. And second, yeah, he was a total asshat for getting in her face about the QWERTY thing, but I was surprised that she seemed to think that was no big deal. Or am I just 1,000 years old and completely out of it?
http://www.blogging.la Kathleen

I agree that she shouldn’t have had any alcohol around them – not only is it unprofessional, but given the behaviors she was witnessing, you’d think she’d want to have her wits about her at all times.

I thought the qwerty thing was kind of funny at first, until he got all nuts about it. I was more interested in what seems like a pattern of abusive and bizarre behavior towards women that was detailed in the article, but the physical altercation with the author of the piece was quite jarring as well.
http://everydaygoddess.typepad.com lizriz

Um, he threw her up against a car and thrust himself at her while a producer and cops stood around and watched because they considered it his normal behavior. Who cares if she had a drink?
beopenguin

Oh man. I hope the camera are going when this class act’s Kharma rolls over him like the huge boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Girls Gone Wild founder a little too wild?

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