The feminist icon isn’t exactly giving the new drama a ringing endorsement.
The television show, which debuts on NBC in September, is set in 1960s Chicago at the first ever Playboy Club. While it’s obvious the show is trying to capture some of the retro-Mad Men magic, the show seems decidedly more glitzy than the AMC drama. The extended trailer (above) is not only filled with good-looking men, but also ambitious, sassy Bunnies who make stacks of cash as cocktail waitresses (one character marvels that she makes more money than her father). Which is exactly why Steinem is hoping people will boycott it.
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“Clearly ‘The Playboy Club’ is not going to be accurate. It was the tackiest place on earth. It was not glamorous at all,” Steinem told Reuters, speaking from experience. Steinem made a name for herself back in 1963 when she went undercover for Show magazine as a Bunny in New York’s club. There she learned that employees were subjected to long hours, little pay and often encountered humiliating situations, all for the enjoyment of the club’s male patrons.
Which doesn’t exactly jive with the tone of NBC’s drama, which execs have called “empowering” and a “really fun soap opera”.