It's Official: Playboy Has Published Its Final Paper Magazine And They're Blaming The Coronavirus For Making Them Stop

Source - The latest victim of the coronavirus: Playboy.

The nudie mag founded by Hugh Hefner 66 years ago will no longer publish a printed edition, it said on Wednesday, citing coronavirus supply chain woes that have only served to exacerbate its already sagging newsstand sales.

“Last week, as the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic to content production and the supply chain became clearer and clearer, we were forced to accelerate a conversation we’ve been having internally,” CEO Ben Kohn said in a post on Medium.com.

The iconic magazine was already on the decline prior to the coronavirus pandemic as porn has proliferated online. It was still being published monthly as recently as 2017, but was scaled back to a quarterly mag without ads in early 2019.

The spring 2020 now hitting newsstands will be its last before it goes all digital next year.

 It's the end of an era. An era that I thought ended decades ago, but that's neither here nor there...Playboy has officially stopped printing its paper magazine. It's kind of bullshit they're blaming it on corona to be honest. Like just admit that the internet put you out of business. Admit that no one other than Large buys Playboys anymore and even when he does he does it as a joke. Nevertheless, it is and always will be an iconic American brand. Think about all the babes who graced the cover of that magazine- Pam Anderson, Farrah Fawcett Carmen Electra, Anna Nicole Smith! Think about how many careers that magazine made. Careers of people that our grandparents used to beat off to. I'm talking women from the 1950s- Marilyn Monroe, Kay Ross, Tanis Chandler. The list goes on and on. 

Like a lot of people, Playboy came into my consioucness when E! greenlit a little show called "The Girls Next Door." Remember that? Holly, Kendra, and Bridget (the lowest ranking girlfriend) just ran around on camera pretending to be in love with a skeleton? Good stuff. 

Playboy's CEO says they'll still do special editions along with their digital version so at least there's that. 

“Over the past 66 years, we’ve become far more than a magazine. And sometime have to let go of the past to make room for the future,” Kohn said.

He left the door open to “special editions,” however.

Kohn, who insiders say was never a fan of the magazine, said the company, which also makes money licensing its brand, will now aim to “help create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure.”

He also touted the company’s social media and digital presence as growth areas. “Right now, the Playboy brand is more successful than ever before. Our audience is massive. We drive over $3 billion in annual consumer spend worldwide.”

You can also follow them on IG. It'll be interesting to see what the future holds for Playboy but for now, rest in peace. Gone but not forgotten…kind of.