Marston Hefner, son of Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner, joined a subscription service mainly known for hosting adult content, and he did it for Pokémon trading cards.
Hefner told Page Six he joined the online service OnlyFans, which is most popular with adult entertainment stars marketing often personalized content directly to paying admirers, as "a long-term avenue for further financial security." His wife Anna, who sees her husband's endeavor somewhat critically, specified he did it to "be able to own a Pokémon Trophy card."
Rare cards from the Pokémon trading card game (TCG) have exchanged hands for six-digit sums, caused controversy and generated international headlines. In May 2023, thieves in England got away with stealing cards worth $25,000 from a single store, which pales in comparison to a dramatic earlier Pokémon heist that nabbed ten times as much. In Tokyo, a specialty store banned adults from buying certain sets of cards to keep the game accessible to its primary target group, children, and protect the market from resellers demanding overblown prices.
Marston Hefner's Pokémon Quest
What exactly Hefner is doing on his OnlyFans channel to get his trophy card can only be witnessed by paying subscribers, but it has been described as "x-rated." The 33-year-old identifies as "bisexual AF" and proclaimed his liberal attitude towards nudity extended to pornography, which is something his father rejected. "I was still taught to stigmatize whatever pornography is," he said. "And I just don't care to do that. Like, if people have sex and they make money from it, [cool]. If I end up doing that, cool."
According to Hefner, he grew up in a house littered with issues of Playboy, so "nudity was a common thing" to him. Playboy magazine, once famous for its centerfold nudes and for men around the world claiming to read it "only for the interviews," was first published in 1953. It played its part in the sexual revolution before being perceived as having fallen behind the times and drawing criticism for promoting sexist tropes. It reached peak popularity in the 1970s and today only exists in an online version in the US. However, with its iconic bunny logo, Playboy is still one of the most-licensed brands in the world -- much like Pokémon.
Pokémon started in 1996 as a video game series for the Gameboy before becoming a worldwide mixed-media phenomenon. Pokémon is the third best-selling video game franchise of all time, and its long-running anime is the most successful video game adaptation. The Pokémon trading card game is also the best-selling in its sector.
Source: Page Six