NEWS
Soul Trains’ Don Cornelius Accused of Sexually Assaulting Playboy Models in Playboy Docu-series on A&E
Cornelius’ son, Tony Cornelius, as well as a spokesperson for The Don Cornelius Foundation, reportedly didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The TV producer told the outlet that Masten’s account is an “unbelievable story without real proof” and “salacious.”
The late Don Cornelius, who died in 2012, has been accused of locking up and sexually assaulting two Playboy bunnies decades ago in a new docu-series on cable.
P.J. Masten, who was identified as a “bunny mother’ in the series presentation made the allegations against Cornelius during Monday’s episode of A&E series ‘Secrets of Playboy’ which looks at the less widely-known, less genteel side of the late Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire.
Discussing Cornelius’ alleged violent attack, Masten said, per People. “It was probably the most horrific story I’ve ever heard at Playboy. This is the story of a massive cleanup that never hit the press.”
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In Mastens’ account, Cornelius was well known to the Playboy women due to his status as a Playboy VIP. On a night out in Hollywood, she said that two sisters who were new to the company caught his eye, and he invited them to the VIP area.
He then allegedly invited them to a party at his house.
“These two young girls got in his Rolls-Royce, went up to his house and we didn’t hear from them for three days,” Masten alleged. “We couldn’t figure out where they were.”
After three days, it is alleged that one of the women called a bunny mother at the Playboy Mansion to say that she and her sister had escaped Cornelius’ house after being held there against their will. Masten stated in the documentary that when Playboy’s head of security went to pick up the women—who were not named—he found them “bloodied, battered [and] drugged.”
“I blame myself a lot,” Matsen added. “I have such guilt about not coming forward, but I knew that the establishment wouldn’t allow me to come forward. And who’s going to believe me? Nobody’s going to believe me.”
Following the Monday broadcast, a disclaimer stated that the “the vast majority of the allegations” made in Secrets of Playboy “have not been the subject of criminal investigations or charges, and they do not constitute proof of guilt.”
Responding to the allegations, Cornelius’ son, TV producer Tony Cornelius, told People that Masten’s account was an “unbelievable story without real proof.”