Playboy Suffers From Shrinking Number Of Female Leadership, Lawsuit Claims

LOS ANGELES, CA — A 54-year-old former Playboy Inc. executive is suing the media organization Friday, alleging she was wrongfully fired this summer as part of a calculated removal of female top leaders by a male-dominated hierarchy.

Allison M. Kopcha's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit additionally alleges discrimination, harassment and retaliation. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

" After 71 years of various business operations and endeavors — often outright misogynistic and gender- and age-biased — defendants, through their CEO, Ben Kohn, in 2024 commented in a public earnings meeting, ". . . you go woke, you go broke," when discussing a change in corporate direction that had briefly been more tolerant of retaining women leaders, the suit states.

• Related: Playboy Makes Big Move In Response To 'Anti-Business' Climate In CA

A Playboy representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the complaint filed Tuesday.

Kopcha first worked for Playboy from 1996 to 1998 in the international television and home video department and negotiated the company's first DVD deal. She was rehired in January 2020 as executive vice president of global licensing and joint ventures, working in large part remotely from her New Jersey home.

Although Kopcha initially received praise and bonuses for her work, male executives later began minimizing her opinions, as well as excluding her from decision-making and senior staff meetings, the suit states.

This summer, Playboy underwent a major strategic shift, including the announcement of plans to relocate its headquarters from Los Angeles to Miami.

"This decision was communicated primarily through the media, with little internal dialogue or transparency," the suit states. "The lack of communication bred confusion and fear among employees, giving many the impression that they would all be replaced with Miami people."

Kopcha told management that it was unsettling for her to learn about the relocation developments from the media and that she did not think it was too much to ask what was going on, according to her suit.

Kopcha did not get a response until a weekly virtual management meeting on Aug. 25 and with a human resources representative also present, Kopcha was terminated, according to the suit.

"Kopcha was extremely upset about her treatment and expressed dissatisfaction with how defendants' managers used the company as a piggy bank to give themselves shares, jets and expensive offices, while making bad deals and saving on costs by cutting good people," the suit states.

A company attorney present responded, "This is where we are," according to the suit, which also states that Kopcha has suffered lost wages and emotional distress.

City News Service