PHOENIX, Arizona. – After promoting his Pink Shorts, Joe Arpaio recently posted a picture of Hugh Hefner holding a pair and clarified he never sent the late enterprenuer the piece. Arpaio posted a statement as follows:
A recent Amazon docuseries on the life of Hugh Hefner may have included a distinctive reference to me. Hefner, the mogul behind the Playboy business empire, is seen in a photograph, possibly in his private plane, holding a pair of my famous personally autographed pink underwear, which many celebrities and political leaders at the highest level have received their own pair of pink underwear from me.
I had ordered that all inmates in the Maricopa County, Arizona, jail system wear the underwear along with their stripped uniforms. The 2008 photo, in which Hefner is holding the world-famous pink underwear, personally signed by me. In 1996, I removed all Playboy magazines from his Tent City Jail and other jails under his control, the 3rd largest jail system in the U.S., for security reasons. That same year, a Playboy competitor Penthouse did a profile on me.
In a bizarre quirk of fate, Hefner and I are further linked together, either directly or indirectly, beyond just the pink underwear. According to the docuseries, Hefner had a strong dislike for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). I was a DEA agent in Chicago during the late 1960’s at the same time Playboy was expanding its business ventures there. In time, I became head of the DEA in Arizona when Playboy came to the state to open its 6th Playboy Club in the United States, which included government officials and celebrities among its clientele. Later, in the 1970’s, I was the regional director with the DEA in Mexico and South America. While I was stationed in Mexico, I received information that Playboy’s private luxury airplane was used for drug trafficking in that country. No concrete evidence was developed to substantiate the rumors.
We must give Hefner credit for being a pioneer in his industry and his many successful achievements. But I continue to be puzzled as to the circumstances involving how he received my authentically autographed pink underwear. If anyone has the answer, let me know.
Visit JoesPinkShorts.com for my new line of autographed and personalized Pink Underwear to help raise money to defend our cops!