Willie or Won’t He?

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Willie! … Earning that Single Name

Legendary singer/songwriter Willie Nelson just keeps getting better with age. This year, the Red-Headed Stranger, now 90 years old, scored two Grammy Award wins — best country album for A Beautiful Time and best country solo performance for “Live Forever” from Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver.

Just this March, the country crooner released I Don’t Know a Thing About Love, his 73rd solo studio album. This most recent record also serves as a nostalgic look back at his storied past. Its ten tracks — including the lead single “Busted” — were all written by the late Harlan Howard, who gave Willie his first job as a songwriter at the publishing company Pamper Music.  

Before Willie took up the mantle as one of the main figures in outlaw country music — a subgenre which emerged in the late ’60s in defiance of conservative Nashville — he was writing tunes that have since become classics. Roy Orbison made it into the Top 10 of Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart with Willie’s “Pretty Paper,” and Patsy Cline immortalized his composition “Crazy” by making it her signature song.

Willie emerged as one of the most dynamic talents in country during the ’70s as he forged his own path away from the bright lights of Tennessee’s Music City.

“When I left Nashville, I went to Texas because that’s where I came from,” he explains. “I was playing in Texas a lot in different places. And I saw hippies and rednecks drinking beer together and smoking dope together and having a good time together, and I knew it was possible to get all groups of people together — long hair, short hair, no hair — and music would bring them together.”

Willie says, “I called Waylon Jennings and I said: ‘Waylon, you need to get down to Austin because it’s really happening here. There are people here with hair dragging the ground that will love your music.’ He laughed a little bit, then he came down and found out I was telling the truth.”

During the ’80s, Willie became a crossover success with the well-known hits “Always on My Mind,” “On the Road Again” and “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” his duet with Julio Iglesias.
Throughout his career, Willie has also proven himself to be a champion of individualism — and a forward-thinking cultural icon.

In 1985, Willie — along with Neil Young and John Mellencamp — organized the first Farm Aid concert to shine a spotlight on the plight of struggling American farmers and raise funds to keep families on their land. The nonprofit Farm Aid organization is still going strong and doing its part to help farmers thrive.

Though perhaps the “outlaw” label originally applied to Willie’s music does not necessarily fit him today, one cannot deny this musical maverick has had a colorful history which has occasionally landed him in hot water.

Willie saw his assets seized in 1990 when the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claimed he owed $32 million in back taxes. Two years later, he released the cheekily titled double-album The IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories? The record’s sales — along with an auction of his seized property — helped him settle his negotiated debt with the feds.

But there was one item that was not part of the notorious auction — his beloved acoustic guitar, Trigger. The Martin N-20, which is named in honor of Roy Rogers’ horse, was the only thing Willie rescued from the inferno that destroyed his home in Ridgetop, Tenn., in 1969. The instrument boasts a literal history beyond the music it makes, being covered with autographs from country greats — including fellow outlaw legends Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson — and has a hole worn in it from the musician’s pick. But when Willie was tangling with the IRS, he asked his daughter Lana to take Trigger out of his Texas home and ship it to him in Hawaii, and it remained out of sight until his tax troubles were put to bed.

Known for his affinity for marijuana and his efforts toward its legalization, Willie also notched multiple arrests for possession — but he never saw his freedom go up in smoke.

The “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” singer even credits cannabis with saving him. Willie claims his life would have been much shorter “if I’d have kept drinking and smoking like I was when I was 30, 40 years old.”

He shares, “I think that weed kept me from wanting to kill people,” and it “probably kept a lot of people from wanting to kill me, too — out there drunk, running around.”

Willie doesn’t toke anymore and reveals, “I have abused my lungs quite a bit in the past, so breathing is a little more difficult these days and I have to be careful.” But he launched Willie’s Reserve — a “trailblazing line of marijuana products” — in 2016 as cannabis became legal in numerous locales. He later followed it up with Willie’s Remedy, a wellness brand which features hemp cannabidiol items.

“I think people need to be educated to the fact that marijuana is not a drug,” says Willie. “Marijuana is an herb and a flower. God put it here. If He put it here and He wants it to grow. What gives the government the right to say that God is wrong?”

With 25 No. 1 hits, more than 30 film appearances and a lifetime spent marching to the beat of his own drum, Willie Nelson — our human of the moment — represents a true American original.

For the record, you can find more Willie here in our Legacy section, the first time we profiled him back in September of 1979. He was barely 40 back then. Fifty years later that man still tours. It can make you tired just thinking about it.

Finally, granted the magazine always finds itself under space limitation, although it still seems a crime that the editors did not mention the most spectacular instance in his history when Willie shined as both a musician and an actor — that being The Electric Horseman (in case you did not know that already). Seriously, how do you compete with is most famous line from the show, “I’m going to get me a bottle of tequila and find me one of them Keno girls that can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch, and just kinda kick back.” … Our heroes have always been cowboys too.

Pop Shots Steve Agee

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Steve Agee Pop Shots TitleThe Penthouse World According to Steve Agee

Writer/comedian/male heartthrob Steve Agee will never forget coming across his first stack of nudie mags in an abandoned jack shack in the seventies. It was a different time: a stony age of innocence, when a woman’s hair, both upstairs and down, was long and luxurious and Americana reigned supreme, from the rock ’n’ roll that ruled the airwaves to the muscle cars and motorcycles that defined a generation.

When Penthouse asked Agee, a photographer in his own right, to creative direct Pop Shots, we assumed he’d go with an intergalactic, cosmic vibe to tie into his role in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. We couldn’t have been more off the mark.

Instead of spaceships and aliens from another dimension, Agee opted to “Make Pop Shots Great Again,” in the wake of the election, with a gorgeous girl next door and some badass American choppers.

Not to get too nostalgic, but it felt as if Bob Guccione himself had reached down and blessed the shoot … and then “grabbed us all by the pussy.”

Your parents shipped you off to military school midway through high school. Did you manage your first roll in the hay prior to that?

No, I was 19. It was after high school, freshman year in college. But the first time I’d seen any form or porn or naked girls was when I was 10 or 11. Me and my friend were out shooting BB guns in the hills near my house in Riverside, California, and we found an abandoned shack full of newspapers and magazines for recycling. There were old Penthouses and that was the first time I’d seen naked women. It was the seventies and they were awesome: tube tops, no tops, Daisy Dukes. That’s why when Kimberly Kane mentioned Pop Shots, I already knew what I wanted to do: a seventies-looking girl on choppers in the desert.

Give me the Steve Agee definition of beauty.

I love long feathered hair. I like a free-spirit-looking hippie chick. The more natural the better. When Penthouse sent me a list of models, Elena was my first choice. She had that seventies look and she didn’t disappoint. She was terrific.

A lot of bush back in the seventies…

A lot of bush, I don’t mind that.

I don’t mind it at all, but there’s been a bald-is-beautiful movement over the last 20 years. What’s your take on that?

I don’t mind that either. I’m of the philosophy that beggars can’t be choosers. Whatever you’ve got, I’m okay with.

Do you prefer seventies bush, or the current rage of pseudo-bush?

I like right in between. Not halfway down the leg or up the belly button. A nice trimmed one is good.

I was a comic book nerd growing up, and some of the best characters and storylines were created in the seventies. Were you into comics as a kid?

I was never a comic-book kid. I just did Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which is a huge thing for Marvel, but I somehow missed the bus on comic-books and I’m kind of bummed. I’m still a sci-fi nerd, and Guardians takes place in space, so it was really cool to be on these sci-fi sets. I loved it.

Is there any secret Steve Agee insights you can share, or can you tell us about your days on the set? Or have you been sworn to secrecy?

I had to sign nondisclosure agreements. I could be sued for a lot of money if I say anything. Money that I don’t have. All I’m able to say is that it comes out May 5th.

When did you get interested in photography?

I took a photography class in college, but back then it was all film and I didn’t have the patience for developing, so I took the more financially stable route of comedian. Years ago I was a writer on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, and I realized at one point that I had all this access to guests backstage, especially bands; I could just stand on the side of the stage. So I bought my first camera. It’s just a hobby, but I really like it.

Having that kind of access, I’m sure you got to witness some backstage hijinks. Any good stories to share?

Tracy Morgan used to hang out in the green room, even when he wasn’t on the show, because Jimmy had a notoriously awesome green room with a bar and a pool table. One night, a few of us were in Jimmy’s dressing room and Tracy walked in and he was in character, acting like he was a high school football coach and it was halftime. He started talking to us like we were football players and he was really disappointed in us [because] we had a shitty first half. He kept calling Jimmy’s uncle, Frank, Coach Casino. He’s like, “We got to do this for Coach Casino, y’all! He’s got cancer!” He stayed in character for like 20 minutes. It was so amazing to sit there and witness that.

Is this your first time shooting porn?

This is my first time shooting naked girls, yeah. Not recreationally, that is.

Have you shot homemade porn that you’re proud of?

Proud of? No. I’m not the most fit guy, so you shoot something with a girlfriend or whatever and watch it back and you’re like, “Oh, fuck, man! This is so uncool!” The lighting in my room is horrible and the shadow my balls cast all the way across the room was terrifying.

Are you worried those tapes might one day leak out?

No, I wouldn’t care because I’m a comedian and I have a sense of humor about all that stuff. I would find it kind of funny.

If you ever hit hard times, what do you think the high bid would be for a Steve Agee sex tape?

Oh, my God! Probably a warm sandwich.

In 2005, you worked on an animated show called House of Cosbys. Have you ever been roofied?

No. I don’t drink so I’ve managed to avoid that, but I don’t know who the fuck would want to roofie me anyway. We’re lucky to be guys. I’d hate to be a girl with the amount of shit you have to deal with and be afraid of.

As a fan of his growing up, what’s harder to accept: that Cosby is a rapist or having hemorrhoids?

Probably Cosby as a rapist is a little worse than hemorrhoids, but hemorrhoids are horrible, dude. They’re the worst. I did a show once [with] a whole bit about hemorrhoids, and afterward a woman came up to me at the back of the room, like, “Steve, I’m a doctor at a clinic in Santa Monica and we specialize in hemorrhoid treatment and we have a new procedure and I think you’d be a great candidate. Hemorrhoid surgery can be really painful when they laser or clip it off. Ours is noninvasive. What we do is pull it out and tie it into a knot and then put it back into your asshole.” This doctor of medicine called it my “asshole.” I was like, “No, I’m not going to be coming down to your van in Santa Monica and letting you poke around in my asshole looking for hemorrhoids.”

What if that was just her awkward pickup line?

She failed. That was a horrible pickup line.

You said you don’t drink. What’s your vice now?

It was weed, and then I managed to taper off of that. Other than food, I meditate a lot now. I found I was relying on weed too much when I was depressed, and I was like, “I think this might be making me a little more depressed.” I still smoke once in a while, though. I love that it’s legal in California now. People are worried that crime will go up, but that’s not the case. If you look at Colorado alone, crime has not gone up and they’ve made a shitload of money taxing it.

As we’re talking, only three days have passed since Trump was elected and we’re all in shock. What’s your biggest concern? Obviously there are many.

I can see him sending off nuclear bombs. He seems like such a loose cannon that if some other country was like, “Fuck you!” He’d be like, “Oh, fuck me?” Boom! And just launch nuclear missiles. I’m sure the process is a lot harder than saying, “Fuck you!” and hitting a button, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he sent us to war. Also, just the possibility of him repealing a bunch of laws like the legalization of gay marriage, or overturning abortion, or the pot law we just discussed. It’ll be interesting to see.

What if he decides to send all non-gingers to death camps?

Oh, man. If non-gingers are going to death camps, I’m good. I’ll re-highlight my hair just to show that I’m ginger, because it’s starting to fade.

Gingers get a bum rap. Was that ever an issue for you growing up?

It was fine. I think it’s worse now for kids if you’re a ginger. It didn’t seem to be a big deal when I was a kid, other than the sunburns.

Let’s end this on a positive note then. What advice can you pass on to young gingers who are just coming to terms with their orangeness under Trump’s regime?

Just stay strong. Wear hats. Go out at night in the cover of darkness. Go out in groups. There’s safety in numbers.

We are trying desperately to avoid thinking about Donald Trump actually winning a Presidential election in the United States of America, not to mention trying even harder to avoid thinking about it possibly happening again. … Instead we will wonder aloud to no one in particular about when naked women became “porn” in the vernacular. People get all bent out of shape about that word, so you’d think we should at least be able to come to a consensus on defining it. … Then again, Trump. … Drat! We can go see what Steve Agee might be up to in order to distract us.

Also, the photographs were by both Steve Agee and Kimberly Kane, but they did not tell us which came from which. So we’ll link to Kimberly as well, since she happens to be one of the most honest-to-goodness dazzlingly impressive women we have ever met in this business. And we have met a lot of women in this business.

Penthouse Pop Shots Logo

LIV Golf

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LIV Golf: The Bogeymen

The inaugural season of the LIV Golf Invitational Series is in the books with Dustin Johnson earning an $18 million first prize as individual champion. But out of the gate, the startup had rattled the PGA Tour’s cage by luring 20 of the top 100 players in the world — including nine major champions — with huge signing bonuses and guaranteed cash for all golfers participating in events. However, LIV has also received backlash from critics who’ve bristled at its financial backers, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, because of the Middle Eastern nation’s human rights record.

Liv Golf SignageBut love it or hate it, LIV has likely made a permanent mark on a sport once associated with genteel gentlemen and country club airs.

For decades, the PGA has dominated professional golf with its regulated tournaments and traditional stroke play. But LIV charged onto the scene in 2022 with a brand-new format, boasting captain-led teams and three rounds of play — instead of the PGA’s four — and its strikingly different payout system.

The PGA has more than 100 golfers in most of its tourneys, which cut about 50 percent of the lowest performers after the initial two rounds. That’s not the case with LIV. With only 48 golfers, all players compete from the start of the first round until the end of the third — unless they withdraw.

In addition, standard PGA tournaments shoot 72 holes, while LIV sticks with 54 — hence its name, which is the Roman numeral for the number. In both circuits, players with the least number of strokes are considered winners. However, the entities’ contests differ greatly in how they begin. On the PGA Tour, the field starts on the same hole or on two different holes at staggered tee times. But LIV uses shotgun starts, which has golfers starting at the same time, but on different tees. LIV has also introduced the concept of teams, currently consisting of 12 four-man groups. Each regular season event is two simultaneous competitions — as players’ scores go toward individual and team totals.

The chasm between the two factions is also vast when it comes to prize money.

Each 2022 LIV event had a purse of $25 million — with $20 million going to individual golfers and $5 million going to teams. As there are no eliminations in LIV events, every player earns a paycheck. The same can’t be said for the PGA, in which only players who make the cut walk off with part of a smaller overall total. For example, the entire 2022 Masters pool was $15 million — $3.5 million more than the Georgia contest’s previous incarnations, but still lower than LIV’s average moneypot.

For a sweet ending, the LIV team championship, held as the eighth and final event of the season at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami, had a $50 million purse — with $16 million going to captain Dustin Johnson and his winning 4 Aces team, consisting of Talor Gooch, Patrick Reed and Pat Perez.

Some of the other major names who played LIV’s tourneys included Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia. However, there’s one familiar face who refused LIV’s invitation — and their reported signing offer of $700 to $800 million — Tiger Woods.

Woods, who’s said to have a net worth of more than $1 billion, has decried the so-called easy money of LIV and asks, “What is the incentive to practice and earn it in the dirt?’’

He also insists, “I know what the PGA Tour stands for and what we have done and what the Tour has given us — the ability to chase after our careers and to earn what we get and the trophies we have been able to play for and the history that has been a part of this game.”

But not everyone agrees that the old ways should be set in stone. In fact, LIV’s mission statement crows the aim of the tour is “to modernize and supercharge the game of professional golf through expanded opportunities for both players and fans alike.”

Meanwhile, legendary linksman Greg Norman, LIV’s CEO, has hit back at criticism over the tour’s hefty purses being filled with Saudi money and LIV players being banned at some PGA events, which he says smacks of “hypocrisy.” Norman also admits he’s “blown away” by some sponsors dropping professional golfers for joining LIV because of its Saudi ties — despite having themselves done billions of dollars in business in the Gulf state kingdom.

“The PGA Tour, I think, has about 27 sponsors who do 40-plus billion dollars’ worth of annual business in Saudi Arabia,” he says.

“Why doesn’t the PGA Tour call the CEOs of [these businesses] saying that we can’t do business with you because you are doing business with Saudi Arabia? Why are they picking on the professional golfers?”

Norman took another swing at the PGA by claiming it has long had a “monopoly” and is unwilling to make room for another high-profile U.S. golf tour — and will rabidly protect its turf.

“They just want to shut us down whatever way they can,” he gripes. “So they will use whatever leverage point they can.”

Despite the controversy, Norman remains bullish on LIV’s future and says, “They’re not going to shut us down because the product is speaking for itself. We have, almost on a daily basis, we get calls every day from players [saying] ‘I want in.’”

As LIV gears up for 2023, sources say company brass are intent on nailing down U.S. TV deals — as last season’s play was only available on LIVGolf.com and YouTube — and plan to continue drawing top talent.

“Quite honestly, the players on the outside looking in to see what’s happening with LIV today, these guys still talk to each other, right? The ones on LIV feel like they have been liberated. There are players on the PGA Tour that we’re speaking to today that want to be liberated,” Norman says.

LIV Golf’s second season will tee off in February and expand to 14 tournaments with the total prize money swelling to a whopping $405 million, insiders share.

“I just love the game so much, and I want to grow the game of golf,” says Norman.

“We at LIV see that opportunity not just for the men but for the women. We at LIV see it for NCAA and younger generations. We at LIV see it as a pathway to opportunities for the kids to experience a new [world] out there.

“LIV is the future of golf.”

Naturally we give kudos to the excellent use of golf-centric puns used throughout, although the topic does lend itself to a fairly easy drive. That said, we continue to be amazed at people’s reaction to learning professional athletes for the most part DO IT FOR THE MONEY. … You can, of course, learn pretty much to your heart’s content about LIV Golf on the internet — which at this point almost seems completely contrived for the exact purpose of promoting controversy. You can also remain steadfastly locked into your own pre-existing opinion too, thinking as you will about golf, or tournaments, or pro athletes, or whatever else you’d like. We all need our illusions. … In other words, you LIV your life. We will LIV ours.

PenthouseMerch.com Golf Balls
(Shhhh…)

2022 Penthouse Pet of the Year

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Amber Marie: 2022 Penthouse Pet of the Year

Whatever other exemplary accolades befit her, alluring Amber Marie qualifies as a total smokeshow. No surpise then that we’re proud to present the busty brunette as the 2022 Penthouse Pet of the Year!

A natural in front of the camera, this voluptuous vixen and her seductive charms make her cam shows utterly unforgettable. Since becoming December 2021’s Pet of the Month, Amber has only seen her popularity grow — and has won over even more fans with her work on PenthouseCams!

With her sunny personality and outgoing nature, Amber radiates beauty both inside and out. You will also find her adventurous — and more than a little bit naughty! The daring West Coast native tells Penthouse she once had sex at a public park and admits she prefers to leave her panties at home!

Not surprisingly, Amber reveals her good looks can sometimes get her into trouble “[because] I’m a bad girl — in the very best way!”

Further said the 2022 Penthouse Pet of the Year

What are some of your hobbies?
Painting, drawing and photography. I’m very artsy.

What is your favorite way to relax?
Hanging out at the beach with a piña colada.

What’s one of your pet peeves?
People hanging around in the kitchen while I’m cooking!

How would you describe yourself?
I can be silly and goofy. I have a good sense of humor, and I’m a very giving person.

What’s the most daring thing the 2022 Penthouse Pet of the Year has ever done?
When I was just 18, I moved across the country from Oregon to Florida, a state where I didn’t know anybody!

What’s your favorite vacation destination?
Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.

Describe your ideal date.
A nice dinner, mini-golf and some foreplay.

What’s the sexiest quality someone can possess?
A good heart.

You can find all the pertinent Amber facts off her Pet Page. You can also catch another video of 2022 Penthouse Pet of the Year winner on that page as well, of course. That said, you really will not get a better insight into the genuine and kind nature of this woman than you will in the video on this page at the moment she understands that she won the Pet of the Year contest. If she faked that response, then somebody needs to contact the Academy about Amber Marie. She needs to be holding up gold statues at the Awards show next year. You may tell her we said so on Instagram or Twitter too.

OK. We should probably also admit that we were surprised that Amber’s “ideal date” concluded with foreplay. We’re going to need her to clarify that position next time she comes to the office.

Stormi Travels

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Stormi Travels: Taking the World by Stormi!

Talented Stormi Maya has had a whirlwind year since she was named March 2022’s Penthouse Pet. The petite powerhouse has continued to follow her dreams and further her multitrack career as an actress, model and vocalist fronting the nu-metal band Cinnamon Babe. We’re catching up with the dynamic performer and learning about all she’s done since joining the Penthouse family.

Stormi, 27, confides 2022 was a “great” year for her and shares, “I felt like I reached so many goalposts and accomplished so much!”

Stormi Travels Alone

The native New Yorker says shortly before her issue hit the stands, she shot the show Heaux Phase, a streaming TV series about a teenage girl who becomes pregnant and has to figure out life.

“It was my first time leading my own TV show, and we filmed 11 one-hour episodes in two months out in Atlanta,” says Stormi. “It was hard work, 12 to 14 hour days, every day, and a ton of lines to remember.”

But the beauty didn’t rest on her laurels and says, “Right after filming that show, I went to NYC to film for HBO Max, working on season two of That Damn Michael Che! It was a great experience going back home to NYC for a week. I was able to see my family and friends!”

Finally Storm Travels with Pentouse

In March, Stormi notched another career highlight — being named a Penthouse Pet!
The cover girl gushes, “I was so excited. I could finally tell the world I was a Penthouse Pet. I was so happy!

“I shot my pictorial around November 2021, but I wasn’t allowed to say anything until the issue hit the newsstand! My followers were so happy to see me on the cover of Penthouse. I decided to do a free magazine giveaway for my followers to promote my rock band Cinnamon Babe’s debut single ‘Pure O.’ The metal community was shook when I dropped my first song in March. No one expected me to be a metal artist. Our music went viral that summer with our song ‘Rock ’N’ Roll Is Black!’ It broke the genre.”

Stormi Travels with Posse

But that’s not all, Stormi was also on MTV!

“I was on a reality show called Secret Relationship on MTV! The best part is they even licensed my music to use! I had my own one-hour episode on MTV! How epic is that?!” she says.

July brought another prominent role for Stormi in Irv Gotti’s debut movie, We Made It in America, which is based on his BET series Tales.

“I play the role of Shay, the third lead. The filming was in Atlanta and was about a month straight,” she says.

“It’s hard living in a hotel for long stretches, but it’s always worth it. I have to live off of microwave food, and living in a single room can get boring, but I’m there to focus on work. The movie will be in theaters soon.”

Stormi reveals, “My band, Cinnamon Babe, continued to gain popularity throughout the year due to everyone’s support — including Penthouse. I appreciate them using my music in my Penthouse videos, sharing our posts and even giving me a rock-’n’-roll themed shoot for the magazine.”

By the time winter rolled around, Cinnamon Babe was playing live shows in Los Angeles and doing charity events — including a performance for the nonprofit Project 43 LA.

“We raised money to help the children of the community get Christmas gifts, and we raised awareness for the center,” she says.

“I am very proud of my 2022, and I feel so blessed and appreciative,” says stunning Stormi. “I know 2023 will have more in store — and I am excited to see what’s next!”

Obviously people around here love Stomi Travels, but we like it almost as much when she’s just on the phone filling us in on her amazingly diverse life. You can follow along on Instagram or her website as well. You’ll see what we quickly discovered: Stormi Maya is flat out interesting. And you cannot say that about very many of us.

Ken Block

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Ken Block: A True Maverick

Late legend Ken Block truly lived by his inspiring motto: GO FAST RISK EVERY THANG.

Before the dynamo’s tragic death at age 55 in a snowmobile accident in Utah on Jan. 2, Block made an indelible mark on athletic fashion, motorsports, car culture and entertainment. Though the world lost a tremendous talent far too soon, his lasting legacy will be felt for years to come.

Skateboarding buffs first knew of Ken Block through California-based DC Shoes, the company he co-founded in 1994. Regarded as a leader in skateboard kicks, DC Shoes eventually branched out and became a renowned action sports brand, which still operates today.

Next, Block roared onto the rally car scene in 2005. That season he notched five top five finishes and placed third overall in the Group A class and fourth overall in the Rally America National Championship. It came as no surprise whe he subsequently earned Rally America’s Rookie of the Year award.

But that was just the beginning for Block.

The following year, Ken competed in the first-ever X Games rally event and took home the bronze at X Games XII — an impressive start for his ten-year stretch in the high-profile contest, which saw him earn a total of five medals.

Block also charged into American and European rallycross racing, racking up numerous wins and podium appearances. He next became a social media phenomenon with his jaw-dropping Gymkhana videos, which have drawn more than 600 million views on YouTube.

In basic terms, Gymkhana reigns as the epitome of precision driving — putting the pedal to the metal and navigating a challenging obstacle course at top speed. Though Block made it look easy, you’ll find nothing simple about his phenomenal feats behind the wheel.

His online video debut in the aughts was born from a perfect storm. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift showed mass audiences how cool tire-shredding could be, and an army of thrill seekers armed with GoPro cameras craved real-life action. Video-sharing platforms were about to explode, and after years of the same old, same old, car culture finally arrived primed for the nonstop adrenaline jolts delivered by Block’s stylized clips.

Block’s particular vehicular mayhem rocketed to success imbued with snowboarding and skateboarding’s energy, the go-for-broke attitude of MTV’s Jackass and an exhilarating sense of fun. Yet at their core, the videos also showed a master at work. Block’s skills as a driver — coupled with his talent as an entertainer — made him the ultimate sports showman. In 2009 for the BBC show Top Gear, Block even took James May out for a Gymkhana-style spin in California — furthering his international audience reach.

Ken Block redefined how cars would be portrayed in new media, and in the process, he displayed a whole lot of personality — and no shortage of business savvy. An ordinary man’s tank might have been running on empty by that point. But as already demonstrated, Block could be anything but ordinary.

In 2010, Block formed Hoonigan Racing Division, a team that competes in the American Rally Association. After selling his stake in DC Shoes, he shifted his off-track business focus to Hoonigan Industries, an apparel brand for auto enthusiasts. He also branched out into video games, appearing in three installments of Codemasters’ Dirt series, and Hoonigan-branded cars were featured in Microsoft’s Forza series.

In 2021, Block — ever the innovator — collaborated with Rotiform and Fuel Off-Road through Wheel Pros to make four types of signature tires he used on his souped-up rides. And the Hoonigan Racing Division continued pushing the engineering envelope in 2022 by partnering with BBi Autosport to create the “Hoonipigasus,” a 1400hp Porsche SVRSR.

Fellow rally racer Tanner Foust says, “I think it’s hard to quantify the impact Ken had on the automotive world. He was a maverick and a pioneer in a lot of ways. Besides the driving and the speed that he had in rally racing, and rallycross, he — off-track — was a business maverick. He started DC Shoes in his garage. He started many companies from nothing and built them into multi-million-dollar companies.”

Foust says Block helped transform the way drivers partnered with sponsors by demonstrating how content creation offered another avenue to connect with audiences. He explains, “Ken really paved the way for drivers, in my opinion, to market themselves differently in motorsport. He showed racers that we have a different way to market ourselves, and it wasn’t always about results on the track.”

Foust also praises Block for how he used “his sheer grit and energy and marketing genius and driving ability” to create a brand that eclipsed some of the biggest automotive names in the world.

Shortly after Block’s death, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) announced in 2023 it was retiring his number 43 from the World Rally Championship (WRC).

“Given the enormous contribution our great friend Ken Block made to motorsport and the fact that he was held in such high regard by people the world over, it is entirely appropriate that his #43 will be withdrawn from use during the 2023 WRC season,” FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem shared in a statement.

“While it’s a small gesture, we hope that it is one that will bring some comfort to his family and friends. Ken was a true legend, and the memory of this true legend will live with us forever.”

Wow. Did you ever read one of these little blurbs and think, “I wish I would have known all of this while this person was still alive?” … Some people truly inspire that entrepreneurial spirit, do they not? (Although probably none of us at 55 should be trying things that would have been simple at 35 — a lesson learned rarely fatally, thank goodness.) At this point, follow us and learn more about Hoonigan Racing, Hoonigan Industries — and see videos of Ken Block in action.

Carolina Diaz

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Carolina Diaz: Life is a Risk

Carolina Díaz was born in Tijuana, where she has lived her entire life. Ever since she was a child, Carolina claims she has been a self-conscious, reserved person. Of course Carolina has another side too, that of the girl who made mischief with her family. Still, relating her hidden side to the world of entertainment, social networks and content generation did not come easily. “It was hard for me to imagine being in front of a camera,” she explains to us.

Although at first she thought of studying medicine, but something kept drawing her attention to being behind a production. “I got into communication sciences, I said: ‘OK. I have many aspects that I can dedicate myself to, photography, radio and make my own documentary or short film.’”

Strengthened wiith that behind the camera inertia, Carolina continued her career at the University of the California. Then, on one fateful occasion while doing a professional internship with a Televisa program called Conexión TV, the producers asked Carolina to replace the host who had failed to arrive. It took some convincing, but after refusing several times, Carolina agreed to help. As it turned out, Carolina performed better than anyone expected.

“There are people who activate a chip in front of the camera and the nerve goes away, the emotions go away and everything flows. And I feel that it is something that continually happens to me, it really was a stroke of luck that they considered me to be in front of cameras and from there many things began.”

Later, after finishing her degree and giving up a temporary job at a casino, Carolina decided to experiment with something related to her career. She decided to approach it as studiously as possible, via a media agency, and here she acquired some technical skills that would help her adapt more smoothly to a professional environment. Stuck over in the administrative part, however, she began to feel dissatisfied. This lead her to explore other possibilities that would take her to Badabun, a space that helped her take even bigger steps, this time as a public figure.

“I searched the networks and saw that Badabun was looking for staff. I sent a request and they called me.”

Caro explains that she was very nervous during the job interview. “I arrived and they asked me if I knew how to use Photoshop, edit videos and do production.”

Between several more questions and a convincing attitude of wanting to have the job, she stayed, in the Memes department. Yes, from Memes. “We were easily 10 people in that area. There was a time when we were 120 or 130 people, a very large number. So, we had to make memes for Badabun, for another page and for influencers”.

Recognizing the evolution of the digital world, Badabun had decided to bet on the video format. Once again, the challenge of being in front of the camera awaited Caro [apparently her Pet name, as it were – Ed.].

”They chose me for a project, because they thought I was very funny and had charisma.”

She worked again and again, when soon her followers began to ask about her role, noting that she did not appear in company videos. “Eventually it got to a point where they asked me if I wanted to go out in videos and leave the meme department, but they didn’t assure me that it would work. My salary was going to change, not to mention it was nerve-racking to take risks. Ultimately to that I said, ’life is always a risk’ and I did it.”

Carolina’s work scheme did indeed seem risky, so she tried to account for that. She proposed that her commitment would be to record videos for the company, and in exchange Badabun would provide her with the equipment to make personal content. One cannot measure surprises, though, and she soon discovered she was too young to really understand the sheer volume networks handled.

“I had to take them about 30 videos a week, and with that I only had the opportunity to record two videos for my own channel.”

The experience led Caro to realize that while the exhibition was very good, there were also issues that she could not agree with, including overwork, psychological abuse and even bullying.

She confesses to us: “There was everything bad — this is very common in Mexico — there was a lot of abuse of power. There was harassment and even homophobic comments. … Unfortunately, for legal reasons I withdrew from those complaints, but our country sucks on that. No matter how much you want to fix things, and no matter how much you try, if you want to expose these negative situations, they will always put obstacles in your way.”

In the end, Caro decided to take a path apart from Badabun, “The detachment process was complicated, but I made a very strong union with my work team, which was my editor, the person who records me. and my friend who helped me produce. I mean, we already had a team, and if they were with me, I had to continue with the videos.” The challenge was to continue making content and detach, at least little by little, from the Badabun image.

After a year, that image faded, and she began to gain recognition without being so tied to the past. At present, she is also trying her hand at fashion, with a clothing line still in the creative process of being launched. And her concerns grow, “I would like to be in a reality show, and, if I’m honest, I want to get rid of making videos for networks a bit, I’m doing casting for series, I took acting classes, and I hope the time comes when I no longer dedicate myself to make videos. Still, I recognize it is a process, little by little.”

In the same way, Carolina plans to make one of her dreams come true, that of being behind the camera producing and directing a documentary. “If there is a single issue that catches my attention, it would be white slavery in Tijuana, I know it is very sensitive, but being here you easily see it every 7 or 8 streets, and for many people it has already become something normal; It makes me feel very helpless, but at the same time it makes me want to report on it.”

Caro Díaz traveled to Mexico City to carry out this photo session, where Penthouse was able to get to know her a little better. In her personal sphere, Carolina constantly works on her safety and puts effort into the process of getting to know herself more. Regarding the photo session for Penthouse, she confesses, “It was a challenge, because I had never imagined seeing myself like this. For me it was so artistic, and at the same time having the confidence to say, ‘Yes, I can be in these types of photos.’ … Now, I feel well. It is no longer something that scares me. I consider it a really cool experience, and — perhaps strangely — it helps one feel a little more secure. It’s something I could definitely do again.”

Carolina Diaz originally appeared in the May/June 2022 issue of Penthouse México. We did the best we could with that translation from the original Spanish, but for those native — or at least more skilled in reading Spanish — friends, we have included the original version below. If we made any horrible mistakes, please let us know. We’d rather be embarrassed and learn (and be able to correct the error) than just put on blinders and plunge forth. Y’know, as it were.

La Vida es un Riesgo

Carolina Díaz nació en Tijuana, donde ha vivido toda su vida. Ella recuerda que desde niña ha sido una persona cohibida, reservada. Sin embargo, tenía otra cara, la de la niña que le hacía travesuras a su familia. Por ello, relacionarla con el mundo del espectáculo, las redes sociales y la generación de contenido resultaba difícil de creer. “Me costaba imaginarme estar frente a una cámara”, nos explica.

Aunque en un inicio pensó estudiar medicina, había algo en ella que le llamaba la atención sobre estar detrás de una producción. “Me metí a ciencias de la comunicación, dije: ‘ok, tengo muchas vertientes a las que me puedo dedicar, fotografía, radio y hacer mi propio documental o cortometraje’”. Con esa inercia de estar tras de cámara, siguió su carrera en la Universidad de las Californias, hasta que en una ocasión haciendo prácticas profesionales en un programa de Televisa llamado Conexión TV, le pidieron suplir a la conductora porque no había llegado. Ella, después de rehusarse varias veces, aceptó apoyar.

Por fortuna, salió mejor de lo que ella y los demás esperaban. “Habemos personas que se nos activa un chip frente a cámara y el nervio se va, las emociones se van y todo fluye.
Y siento que es algo que continuamente me pasa, realmente fue un golpe de suerte que me consideraran para estar frente a cámaras y de ahí comenzaron muchas cosas”.

Tiempo adelante, después de culminar su carrera y renunciar a un trabajo temporal en un casino, decidió experimentar en algo que estuviera relacionado con su carrera. Fue así como llegó a una agencia de medios, donde adquirió algunos aprendizajes de la industria que le ayudarían a adaptarse mejor. Sin embargo, como estaba en la parte administrativa, comenzó a sentirse insatisfecha, por lo que exploró otras posibilidades que la llevarían a Badabun, espacio que le ayudó a dar pasos más grandes, pero como figura pública. “Busqué en redes y vi que Badabun estaba buscando personal. Mandé solicitud y me llamaron”.

Caro nos explica que estaba muy nerviosa durante la entrevista de trabajo. “Llegué y me preguntaron si sabía usar Photoshop, editar videos y hacer producción”. Entre varias preguntas más y una actitud convincente de querer tener el puesto, se quedó, en el departamento de Memes. Sí, de Memes. “Éramos fácil 10 personas en esa área. Hubo un tiempo en que éramos 120 o 130 personas, una cantidad muy grande. Entonces, nos tocaba hacer memes para Badabun, para otra página y para influencers”. Con la evolución del mundo digital, Badabun decidió apostar por el formato de videos.

Nuevamente, a Caro le esperaba el reto de estar frente a cámara: “me pasó que no fue alguien y me pusieron a mí, porque creían que yo era muy chistosa y tenía carisma”.

Volvió a funcionar, los seguidores comenzaron a preguntar por sus participaciones cuando no salía en algún video. “Hasta que llegó un punto donde me preguntaron si ya quería salir en videos y dejar el departamento de memes, pero no me aseguraban que iba a funcionar, mi salario iba a cambiar y entonces era un nervio arriesgarme. Total que dije: ‘la vida es un riesgo’ y lo hice”.

El esquema de trabajo era riesgoso, le propusieron que su compromiso sería grabar videos para la empresa, y a cambio Badabun le facilitaría el equipo para hacer contenido personal. “Entonces, como que uno no dimensiona, en ese tiempo estaba muy polluela para saber cuánto se manejaba en redes. Yo les tenía que sacar como 30 videos a la semana, y con eso ya tenía la oportunidad de poder grabar dos videos en mi canal”.

La experiencia llevó a Caro a darse cuenta de que si bien la exposición era muy buena, también había temas con los que no podía estar de acuerdo, entre ellos el exceso de trabajo, maltrato psicológico e incluso acoso. Ella nos confiesa: “Había de todo, esto es
muy común en México, había mucho abuso de poder, había acoso y hasta comentarios homofóbicos… Lamentablemente, por cuestiones legales yo me retiré de ese tema, pero nuestro país es una mierda en eso, por más que quieras arreglar las cosas y por más que quieras exponer esa situación, siempre te van a poner trabas en todo”.

Al final, Caro decidió tomar camino aparte de Badabun, “el proceso de desapego estuvo complicado, pero hice una unión muy fuerte con mi equipo de trabajo que era mi editora,
la persona que me graba y mi amigo que me ayudaba producir; o sea, ya teníamos un equipo, y si ellos estaban conmigo, yo tenía que seguir con los videos”. El reto consistía en continuar haciendo contenido y desligarse, al menos poco a poco, de la imagen de Badabun.

Después de un año, esa imagen se fue desvaneciendo y comenzó a lograr ser reconocida sin estar tan ligada al pasado. En el presente, también está probando suerte en la moda, con una línea de ropa, la cual está en proceso creativo para ser lanzada. Y sus inquietudes crecen, “me gustaría estar en un reality y, soy honesta, quiero desprenderme un poco de hacer vídeos para redes, estoy haciendo casting para series, tomé clases de actuación, y espero que llegue el momento donde ya no me dedique a hacer videos, pero es un proceso, poco a poco”.

De la misma manera, piensa llevar a la realidad uno de sus sueños, el de estar detrás de cámara produciendo y dirigiendo un documental. “Hay un tema que me llama la atención, la trata de blancas en Tijuana, sé que es muy sensible, pero estando aquí fácil lo ves cada 7 u 8 calles, y para la gente ya es algo normal; me da mucha impotencia, pero a la vez me dan ganas de informar sobre eso”.

Caro Díaz viajó a la Ciudad de México para realizar esta sesión de fotos, donde pudimos conocerla un poco más. En el ámbito personal, ella se reconoce como alguien que constantemente trabaja en su seguridad y está en proceso de conocerse más. Y sobre la sesión de fotos para Penthouse, nos confiesa: fue un reto, porque nunca me había imaginado verme así, para mí fue tan artístico y a la vez tener una seguridad de decir: ‘sí puedo salir en este tipo de fotos, me siento bien, no es algo que me espanta’. Siento que fue una experiencia muy chida y ayuda a una a sentirse un poco más segura. Es algo que definitivamente podría hacerlo otra vez”.

They do like to credit a lot of people in that magazine, so we see zero reason we should not do so here. Photography by Ojo de Paz. Makeup and hairstyle by Karla Adonai. The location was the Quinta Soledad Cultural Center. And last, but never, ever least in our world of journalism love, Aaron Zavaleta provided the interview duties. … Now you’d think they would have included a link for Carolina Diaz too, but they did not. Remember how she was talking about the culture in her country? We, on the other hand , have never been accused of having culture, so we found her for you.

Suicide Among Veterans

Posted on by Team Penthouse

A Deadly Crisis of Suicide

Jason Zimmerman was born and raised in a rural Tennessee town with a strong hunting culture. He got his first firearm — a BB gun — from his parents at age seven. On his 12th birthday, his grandfather gifted him a shotgun and enlisted him in firearm safety courses.

“In my childhood, I saw firearms as a tool to help you sustain your family, put food on the table, get you through the lean times,” he said.

After Zimmerman enlisted as an Army medic in the late ’90s, guns took on another purpose: “My firearm was a tool. It just served a different function: to keep me, and the guys to my left and right, safe.”

His service featured tough deployments to Bosnia, Honduras and Iraq.

Now a civilian, Zimmerman today owns 17 firearms, including an AR-15, an AK-47, and seven pistols. While he once thought his guns would provide a sense of comfort post-service, his relationship to them has fundamentally changed.

The trouble started after returning home, when Zimmerman started showing symptoms of PTSD and depression. After bagging and dressing his first post-deployment buck, he felt a flashback to the battlefield and had to stop.

“In all honesty, having my hands in that much blood again was too much,” he said. “I couldn’t do it.”

Zimmerman reached a crisis point in February 2012, when his best friend from the 82nd Airborne Division, who’d saved his life in combat, killed himself. Zimmerman had spent hours on the phone with his buddy during his mental health crisis. He hung up thinking a calamity was averted, only to wake the next morning to news of his pal’s death. After this, Zimmerman became depressed, withdrawn and decided he, too, would shoot himself on the one-year anniversary of his friend’s suicide.

Fortunately, soon afterward he reconnected with a former schoolmate who saved his life. The two fell in love, got married and had kids. Zimmerman still struggles with PTSD and depression, and he hasn’t been hunting in years. He enjoys shooting guns at a firing range with veteran buddies, but he can no longer escape the truth of their lethality. Their outsize role in American violence was made even clearer to Zimmerman when a series of violent threats at his daughter’s high school repeatedly forced her and her classmates into lockdown.

“During the most recent threat, I drove into the grocery store parking across the street from her school,” he said. “I texted her, ‘It’s OK, peanut. I’m here. If something terrible happens, I’m here.’”

A few years ago, Zimmerman took a job at Johnson City’s Tennessee Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Specifically, he serves in a counseling role created through a suicide prevention law named after Clay Hunt, a vet who took his life with a gun. Zimmerman’s innovative work on safe storage of firearms among veterans led to his being tapped as a core member of former President Donald Trump’s veteran suicide prevention lethal means task force. The initiative broke significant political ground by affirming, in part, that “effective suicide prevention is voluntary reduction in the ability to access lethal means with respect to time, distance and convenience.”

For decades, public health researchers have endeavored to understand America’s complex relationship with firearms, given their use for hunting and home protection, yet also being the most common means used in the unyielding suicide crisis. Within the firearm community that last topic was a third rail, facing seemingly insurmountable resistance from the National Rifle Association (NRA), which insisted “the use of firearms in suicide is not relevant.”

But in the last dozen years, a growing constellation of Second Amendment advocates who experienced the pain of losing someone close to a firearm suicide have successfully countered this position — that not only is there a connection between access and suicide, but that much can be done to address it head-on.

This network includes Zimmerman, but also Ralph Demicco, a New Hampshire gun shop owner, who launched the national Gun Shop Project after three customers in a week died by suicide within hours of purchase; Joe Bartozzi, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), who endured a close colleague’s suicide and has co-branded strategic initiatives with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; Steve Eliason, a Republican Utah lawmaker, who authored pioneering gun safety legislation after three children at his son’s middle school died by suicide; Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, along with Brett Bass, a retired Marine who lost a number of battle buddies to suicide, and Jennifer Stuber, whose husband, Matt, shot and killed himself, and who effectively lobbied the Washington State legislature for wide-ranging firearm suicide prevention programs.

These and other Second Amendment advocates have built projects that are inexorably altering the firearm suicide prevention landscape. Perhaps the most compelling demonstration that a sea change is occurring within the firearm community came in a 2022 firearm suicide prevention summit, whose attendees included the U.S. Concealed Carry Association and gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Glock Inc. The meeting was convened by Dr. Matthew Miller, the director of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Suicide Prevention Program, a veteran and avid gun collector, who lost his best friend to suicide during his last year in the Air Force.

 Previous federal work on this issue has been hamstrung by inaction and ineffective policies. In numerous instances, promising programs have been shuttered or scaled back due to political pressure. At times, the VA has also restricted gun rights for veterans carrying dishonorable discharge classifications or evidence of poor financial decision-making. (These poorly conceived and articulated policies resulted in a years-long, highly effective offensive against the VA from the NRA and other firearm lobbyists.)

New and ongoing initiatives have been far more successful. VA leaders and their allies, for instance, quietly forged partnerships with major gun groups and firearms figures, including the National Shooting Sports Foundation, sport shooter Chris Cheng, and, in one case, a state chapter of the NRA. In 2018, the VA held the first of its kind innovation challenge for safe firearm storage, which led to the production of numerous design innovations now being developed and produced.

Advocates are also looking to pioneering projects in other countries. After Switzerland greatly reduced the size of its military in the early ’00s, for instance, the number of households with guns shrank, as did the suicide rate among men. In 2006, the Israeli Defense Forces banned soldiers from taking guns home on weekends, and the suicide rate among young men decreased by 40 percent.

Zimmerman routinely sees the tragic effects of America’s unparalleled suicide crisis and hopes this new movement can make change.

“It’s hard not to shake a tree these days and find someone not impacted by suicide or gun violence,” he said. “That really bothers me.”

Read more of Jasper Craven’s work at battleborne.substack.com.

Vote Finale 2023

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Vote Finale 2023: Runner-Up Ruminations

Weve never had a Finale vote before, so we are very excited, just to be clear. So forgive us if things get confusing. Basically the top women in the popular vote — verifiably tied to their social media promotion, data indicates — moved into a run-off competition. Naturally we felt like we should introduce the finalists, but then we very quickly realized that Pet Vote Finale 2023 contestants could much more easily do this themselves.

As you probably discerned, we simply took the introductory parts of their SFW Pet Videos and strung them all together, but should you realize that you suddenly want more, we will provide you “new page” links to (in calendar order, to avoid anything potentially untoward befalling us) … MSPUIYI, Tahlia Paris, Stormi Maya, Trippie Bri, Veronica Perasso, and Amber Rose.

Now we could have just left it at that, put the oddly (and completely unplanned) juxtaposed winners from the past three years in our fun little triptych linked to the new voting page, and left it at that. But then…

Tania Russof - Pet of the Year Runner-Up 1999

Vote Finale 2023: The Aftermath

(which happens to be a really excellent pun, by the way, since this all happens literally after the math)

You see, that photograph happens to be of Tania Russof who did not win in 1999. Not that we have any issue with Nikie St. Gilles taking home the prize at all. The point here being that there have been — and will continue to be — a by any standards spectacular group of women that finish in second place. Sure, everybody gives the “an honor to be nominated” platitudes when asked, but everybody likes to win. Let’s be honest. Not only that, but the Runner-Up position in the Pet Playoffs 2023 will not exactly be stepping in when somebody uncovers naked pictures of the winner and publishes them in a magazine. That happens with inferior competitions, but not with ours.

It seemed then that a little love thrown in the direction of the “this one little thing made the difference” Runner-Ups might just be the honorable thing to do. If not honorable, per se, at least it was a lot of fun.

While competition can be invigorating, once you select a winner, you by definition also have, not so much losers in this case as … women who did not win. You see, when you work with 12 very special people throughout the year, selecting that “one” and (usually) a “second” can be remarkably painful. Everyone cannot win, but we honestly hate to disappoint any of these ladies. This, even though the raw numbers made for a fairly simple mathematical division to get us to this Vote Finale 2023 point. (Fairly, not perfectly.)

Think about it: Choosing to make your living naked on camera takes more than just a little bit of personal fortitude. It also takes no small amount of ego. Without ego, movies would have no actors, music no musicians, and Nobel Prizes no … whatever category thing they need to select the best of the best that year. So we pick a winner, as contests must, but we intend in no way to minimize the unique and wonderful contributions to Penthouse that all the 2023 Pet of the Month winners brought. And we do want the Runner-Up to feel just a little bit extra special too. Best of luck to everyone here. Voting ends in a little over two weeks, and people can vote every day in this final round, so rally your folks, and if any of you readers have any suggestions for us beyond simply voting, well, that would be the point of the Contact page.

Krista Pflanzer - 1988 Pet of the Year Runner-Up

As a closing note to all of the women not in this final round — and moreso to any aspiring Penthouse models out there — we will borrow a line from our in-house Director of Pet Projects, Sam Phillips (Penthouse Pet, June 1993, in her own right). Sam always tells her wards, “Once you are a Pet, you are always a Pet.” … And who doesn’t like to be a member of an exclusive club, however paths down the road might diverge?

Pet Playoffs 2023 Vote - Previous Winners, Lacy Lennon, Kenzie Anne, Amber Marie

Minnie Michele

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Minnie Michele: The Ace

Hawaii has many stunning sights — and beguiling brunette Minnie Michele is one of the Aloha State’s best!

Our gorgeous Social Premier has made her mark online, but this alluring influencer also lives life to the fullest offline by enjoying local nightclubs, spending time in the gym, playing golf and hitting the shore. Minnie confides, “I LOVE the beach! I can’t live without it. Everything about the ocean is therapy to me.”

Bubbly and sweet, Minnie has a great sense of humor — and a wild side. The beach babe shares the wildest place she’s ever had sex was out in the ocean on a surfboard in the middle of Waikiki!

The dark-eyed goddess admits she’s not afraid of change. She’s proud of her constant evolution and willingness to always work on herself. But as far as we can see, she’s sheer perfection!

Given that fine — admittedly a tad prosaic — bit of editorial “gloss” we quickly decided to paint the Minnie Michele more with photos than with words. Granted, this will end up being an update more along the lines of a photo gallery than a profile or any kind of insightful glimpse, but considering our history we felt like folks might be fine with that every so often. People do read Penthouse for the articles, right? (While we admit we borrowed that tag line from an old Playboy promotion, we still think we deserve credit for that ever-so-subtle Subscription Plug. … So back to Minnie. …

Fast  Minnie Michele Facts

Favorite drink: “An espresso martini — extra sweet, please!”

Former jobs: “Real estate agent, personal trainer and claims adjuster for an auto insurance company to name a few.”

Favorite sport: “I love to play and watch golf!”

What she does in her spare time: “I am a huge foodie, so you’ll always catch me grabbing a bite somewhere with friends!”

Her future goals: “To be rich AF in every way — finances, health and opportunities.”

Naturally we want to encourage you to find out as much as you can about Minnie Michele, not only because we consider it a valuable use of your time, but mostly because you will find her to be one of the truly nice people in life. Beauty on the inside counts for a lot too, you know. Consequently…

INSTAGRAM: @minniemichelexx
TWITTER: @minniemichelexx
TIKTOK: @michele.in.hawaii

And of course we always try to give attribution to the photographers as well, if for no other reason than there are a heck of a lot of settings on a modern camera, and anyone who can figure all those out while standing this close to a woman this beautiful really needs some credit. Technically we found at least three different “main’ talents on this page, however, so we’ll happily send you off to @wickedneesh, @pisces_portraits, and @_chrispyshotz_ to get you started. Feel free to let them know you saw them here, and maybe ask to come along on the next shoot. Could be we have a few aspiring photography assistants out there.

Power Slap

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Power Slap Smackdown

Combat sports was knocked for a loop with the arrival of the Power Slap League. Billed as the world’s premier slap fighting organization, it’s led by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mastermind Dana White and highlights the brutal strength of unflinching competitors who put it all on the line for a shot at glory, while displaying their raw power and steadfast resolve.

Power Slap made its broadcast debut on TBS in January — but make no mistake. This isn’t some sort of reality TV contest. It is an honest-to-God sport, with male and female divisions, and it’s officially licensed and sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

The rules are simple. A coin toss determines who launches the first blow. The bouts are arranged by MMA weight classes and typically last three rounds. In each, both competitors have the opportunity to deliver a single strike to their opponent’s face — using their fingers and palm above the wrist simultaneously — and the obligation to receive their opponent’s strike in return.

Like boxing and MMA, Power Slap judging is based on a 10-point must system, with a round winner scoring 10 points and the loser scoring nine or fewer — and of course, KO and TKOs deliver victories to heavy hitters. Strikers can accumulate fouls for clubbing — making contact outside the designated facial zone — or illegal wind-ups, and defenders, who hold their hands behind their back, can get zotted for flinching or blocking.

The sport came charging out of the gate, drawing 1 million viewers on the video-sharing platform Rumble — and a clip on the league’s TikTok account (@powerslap) showing Jewel “Kidd Diamond” Scott’s powerhouse knockout of Anthony Green has garnered more than 100 million views and counting!

But critics have taken aim at Power Slap, arguing it glorifies violence for violence’s sake. However, Power Slap president Frank Lamicella, who oversees all daily operations — including the safety of the fighters — recently drew parallels between the league and the early days of the UFC.

Lamicella says, “The criticisms of Power Slap are almost identical to those the UFC received in the late ’90s and early ’00s. Credit to [former UFC CEO] Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White on pressing ahead notwithstanding those criticisms. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the UFC that is beloved by fans around the world today.”

He admits, “We knew Power Slap would ‘disrupt the disrupted.’ Those scrolling through their content feeds pause when they see a Power Slap match.”

Prickly pundits have also decried the supposed lack of defense, which Lamicella calls a “misguided” notion. He explains, “While traditional evasion defense may not be used, there are other defensive techniques that our athletes are learning and will only get better at — for example, timing and precision to roll with a slap but not commit a flinching foul, learning the proper balance of tenseness and strength training to build the head, neck and upper body muscles.”

He also points out there are a litany of health and safety requirements which are met for each match. All athletes must pass strict medical testing, including brain scans, physicals and eye exams, and there is additional comprehensive testing for those aged 38 or older.

Given all of the attention Power Slap has received, it is impossible to deny that White, 53, understands what audiences crave. Just look at his track record: The sports mogul has helmed the UFC as president since 2001, and under his savvy stewardship it has grown to a multibillion-dollar enterprise with a global fan base that shows no sign of waning.

White also knows how to roll with the punches. He’s countered criticism of his latest enterprise by pointing out Power Slap warriors take three to five slaps per event while “fighters in boxing take 300 to 400 punches per fight.”

Boldly addressing detractors, White says, “Nobody’s asking you to watch. Oh, you’re disgusted by it? Watch The Voice.”

Power Slap Fantasy

This last image aside, we have found no evidence that this mixing of female and male competitors exits in the sport, even though that would probably be the most “reality-based” pairing of the competition. That said, we did not exactly spend a lot of time looking around either. It seems like not slapping someone would be a much better alternative overall. You can  learn more about the Power Slap League and its strikers should you wish, however. Or you can spend your time watching meaningless repeats of long-gone competitions on the NFL Network while you wait for more civilized beatings to resume on national television this fall.

Lauren Johnson

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Lauren Johnson: Combat Barbie Comes Clean

I couldn’t look away from the train wreck of Afghanistan,” admits Lauren Johnson, a former Air Force public affairs officer. “I’d been on the train. Maybe I’d even steered it.”

The Fine Art of Camouflage, Johnson’s new memoir, is a book about the stories a nation’s veterans — and parents and children — tell ourselves and each other when the truth is too painful to confront directly.

The pull toward military service is not solely the domain of weapons-dripping, musclebound men. Johnson inherited a call to serve from her mother, a nurse in the Army Reserves, who’d deployed to the Gulf War when Johnson was seven.

“Though I may not have enlisted to become a woman,” she acknowledges, “the woman I most loved and admired had done the same.”

Despite a subsequent family pact that no one else join the military “because one deployment was enough,” the twin lures of post-9/11 patriotism and a college ROTC scholarship enticed Lauren into an Air Force officer’s uniform and a job in public affairs — or military journalism. Having earned the nickname “Combat Barbie” in training (a pink paint round exploded all over her uniform), she deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 as part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team. There, her job involved information operations — creating media spin to frame the American war effort in a positive light.

On the surface, a Provincial Reconstruction Team leverages “soft power,” winning hearts and minds by delivering ambulances, immunizing children, teaching women about their rights and overseeing construction projects — all with an eye toward building public support for the government and disputing the insurgency’s claims to legitimacy. Initially, Lauren was an idealistic 25-year-old, but the longer she was deployed in Afghanistan, the more she observed redundant bureaucracy, seesawing goals and a Sisyphean struggle to measure so-called progress.

“Our operations in Afghanistan were based largely on theory, and wishful thinking,” she writes, as the Afghans expected the Americans to fund more projects than those for which time or money existed. Still, she was expected to help the war effort in the face of blunders. “If a military operation damaged property, if Americans faced blame for an attack, if a contractor abandoned a construction site or a government official failed to deliver on a promise to his citizens, I issued Band-Aids in the form of words.” She wanted to back the opinions she was offering to the Afghan public as she strove to influence their opinion, “to believe the promises we made on behalf of the Afghan government: security, education, health care, rule of law, all in exchange for ink-stained fingers on Election Day.”

Lauren Johnson writes a glowing op-ed praising the Afghan election in August 2009 — propaganda, she admits later — hyped up on the story lines she’d been feeding the Afghan populace and herself.

During her nine-month deployment, Lauren becomes skeptical about duplication of efforts and a lack of coordination between different units and agencies, the tension between the firehose of funding necessary to prop up a government and the need to account for it, and miscommunications in contingency planning. Her messages of hope and accomplishment soon ring hollow to her own ears, and her mix of anger and fear will be familiar to anyone who has also crouched in a bunker during missile attacks or raged at suicide bombers who’ve crashed base gates and threatened friends.

The tipping point for Johnson arrives after an attack on Camp Chapman — a base she’d previously visited — on Dec. 30, 2009, which killed members of another Provincial Reconstruction Team and obliterated what thin sense of her trust remained. In her information operations job, she also becomes privy to grisly photos of a mysterious execution-style killing of Afghan women. This confirms her jaded cynicism and makes her suspect her role sharing the “official” military message makes the war even worse.

Throughout, Lauren strives not to worry her family, just as her mother strove to keep messages home light nearly two decades before. Shielding her relatives from her stress, Johnson writes, “I sprinkled small truths around. No one knew the whole story.” The cultural tropes of warrior stoicism and a girlishly cheerful facade combine to assist her one-woman public affairs effort. Though Johnson is especially close with her parents, deployment experiences were as yet too taboo to be shared between mother and daughter. She writes, “I wanted my parents to trust in the rose-tinted version of my war.”

Even upon returning from deployment and running into her mother’s arms, Johnson strives to “act normal” on a base in Florida, all the while feeling alien, grieving recently lost friends, and reacting strongly to news items from Afghanistan. She feels the stark disconnect between relief at seeing her family and feeling jarred by how much has changed; her nieces’ births and brother’s 21st birthday can’t be relived, nor can time with her dying grandfather. This sense of whirring numbness — of gingerly padding around a home that doesn’t quite feel like home while being ambushed by grief at odd intervals — will be familiar to veterans of any generation, as will the half-truths she tells her family in attempts to keep them from worry.

It is only after drunkenly hitting bottom and seeking therapy that Lauren confesses the painful scars of her deployment to her parents, deciding in tandem to leave the Air Force at the end of her four-year contract. She and her mother “peel away the scar tissue together,” and Johnson learns of her mother’s Gulf War terror awaiting nightly scud missile attacks and taping windows against potential explosions on an assumed suicide mission, and later carrying trauma while “diving back into her roles as wife and mother and everything else we heaped on her.”

Returning from war in 1991, the elder Johnson was never encouraged to talk to anyone about her experiences. At the same time, she admits that it was harder for her to have a daughter deploy than for her to deploy herself.

The Fine Art of Camouflage is a new breed of memoir that traces war lineage through female generations. Now a mother of toddler twin girls, Lauren Johnson promises to tell them everything — and indeed dedicates her book to them — because they “deserve more than sound bites.”

In a world made of spin, veterans’ honesty about our war stories — even painful or shameful ones — can help us heal.

Teresa Fazio is a former Marine. Her book Fidelis is available now in paperback. You can get The Fine Art of Camouflage as well. Honestly, we would encourage it.

Damar Hamlin

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Damar Hamlin: Gridiron Grit

America held its breath when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed and lay motionless on the field at Ohio’s Paycor Stadium on Jan. 2. His team had been battling the Cincinnati Bengals when the young athlete suffered cardiac arrest. But the Bills’ Denny Kellington is being hailed as a hero for administering CPR to the stricken player before a defibrillator was used to restart his heart — and experts say the quick-thinking assistant trainer likely saved the NFL pro’s life.

Hamlin, who turns 25 on March 24, fell to the grass after landing a routine hit on Bengals’ receiver Tee Higgins in the first quarter of the game — and medical personnel immediately sprang into action.

The collision wasn’t particularly violent, yet Hamlin had to be carried from the field as stunned players and fans looked on. The Pennsylvania native was rushed to the intensive care unit at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was placed on a ventilator until he could breathe on his own. Later interviews would reveal that medical personnel actually used a defibrillator on the field to revive Damar in a heroic move to save his life.

Doctors shared updates on Damar’s “remarkable improvement” during those first critical days — especially when Hamlin awoke from a coma to ask in writing who’d won the game — a fact they pointed to as proof he was “neurologically intact.”

Irreparable brain injuries can occur quickly in those suffering cardiac arrest because cerebral tissue begins dying within minutes of oxygen deprivation, which explains why experts say Kellington’s swift application of CPR likely made all the difference.

Before a week had passed, Hamlin shared a Zoom call with his teammates.

“We were able to hear him say, ‘I love you boys,’ to the team and to the people in the room,” says Bills head coach Sean McDermott.

The coach revealed Hamlin’s overjoyed teammates “stood up right away and clapped for him.”

After a week at UC Medical Center, Hamlin was given the all-clear to be transferred to a facility in New York. Shortly afterward, the Bills announced he was discharged from Buffalo General Medical Center following a “comprehensive medical evaluation” to continue his rehabilitation at home and at the team’s facilities.

“One of the reasons Hamlin had such good neurologic outcomes and a week later was tweeting with friends was that he had early CPR and early defibrillation,” says Dr. Mary Ann Peberdy, a professor of medicine and emergency medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, who was not involved with the player’s treatment.

Marketing rep Jordon Rooney says his “upbeat” pal continues to work on his recovery, and Hamlin tweeted, “The Love has been overwhelming, but I’m thankful for every single person that prayed for me and reached out. We brung the world back together behind this. If you know me, you know this only gone make me stronger. On a long road, keep praying for me!”

The very fact that Hamlin is alive shows the vital importance of athletic trainers and on-field medical personnel. Many cases of cardiac arrest don’t have such positive outcomes, given that they primarily occur outside of a setting where swift professional care is available.

“In the best circumstances, maybe one or two out of 10 are going to survive,” notes Dr. Howie Mell, a Chicago-based emergency room physician. “But the public believes it’s nine out of 10. Hollywood changes the perception.”

In fact, a 2017 study found defibrillation and cardiac arrest survival outcomes are often portrayed inaccurately on television dramas as the need to wrap up an entertaining plotline by the end of an episode doesn’t necessarily jibe with reality.

As for the Bills-Bengals game, it was ultimately canceled by NFL officials. But Dr. Timothy Pritts, a Professor of Surgery at UC Medical Center, says, “When he asked, ‘Did we win?’ the answer is ‘Yes. You know, Damar, you won. You won the game of life.’”

Since that time Damar Hamlin has turned his overwhelming notoriety to a positive cause, speaking much to the character of the man. Some of us actually saw him in person at the latest Adobe Summit in Las Vegas where Peyton Manning interviewed him about an impressive range of philanthropy. From a tiny $2,500 GoFundMe campaign seeking to bring toy to local underprivileged children, Damar has now set up and entire foundation to expand the charitable work he can spearhead. If you want to hear from the man himself, Adobe has made the Keynote replay publicly available. Just click up to the 1:15:41 link in the timeline, unless you’d like to learn a lot more about Adobe business software. They are as impressive as they are expensive, if that helps your decision.