I would just say that like any celebrity, there is Hugh Hefner the celebrity pimp and Hugh Hefner the man. In public, he literally was the Playboy brand. He had to be seen living this “man of leisure” lifestyle that looks so tacky today, but he provided an alternate version of healthy sexuality at a time when American couples often slept in separate beds.

He had to be that character in public; he was sellin a lifestyle and this article roasts his public persona. Rightfully so; he was 92 years old and when the revolution he started in his 30s became part of the patriarchy, and so did he. For his time, he was pretty progressive — but his time is long over.

From all accounts the private Hugh Hefner was a generous man who didn’t really live up to the stories of how wild he was (not that he was going to correct anyone!) He maintained good relationships with most of his many exes after they broke up, and was a real father figure to a lot of these girls long after they stopped working for him (despite how creepy that is with the sexual aspect). He was an early public supporter of gay rights; long before it was popular.

But he’s one of those guys whose time is over. I’m glad for his contributions to society, they were a link in the chain of progressivism that brought us to we’re we are. But I’m also glad his time is over, because we as a society have moved on.

This seems like a lot more balanced assessment of the guy than the original article, which seems almost entirely fueled by toxic vitriol

The world is never black-and-white. It’s unfair to judge a man on how we interpret him at the end of his life. He came from a time when “consent” wasn’t really a concept a lot of men understood. He more than anyone helped to normalize human sexuality as a natural part of life in the US.