Photo credit: Ben Droz
In May of 2014, Hollywood on the Potomac sat down with Christie Hefner where she discussed the First Amendment and growing up Hefner. Her father Hugh Hefner who founded the Playboy empire, died last week at 91. In her words:
“I can’t name one seminal moment where I got, broadly speaking, interested in civil liberties including privacy in women’s rights as well as First Amendment rights,” Christie Hefner told Hollywood on the Potomac at the 2014 Hugh Hefner First Amendment Awards evening at the Newseum, “but it’s certainly true that my father, through the editorials in the magazine and the Playboy Foundation, was long an activist on the issue and an [influence].”
Christie Hefner
Christie Hefner established the awards in 1979 in conjunction with Playboy magazine’s 25th anniversary to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effort to protect and enhance First Amendment rights for all Americans.
The 2014 Honorees:
Glenn Greenwald (Journalism), political journalist, lawyer, author, blogger and columnist, who published the first in a series of reports detailing NSA surveillance programs, based on classified documents leaked by Edward Snowden; Norman Dorsen (Lifetime Achievement Award), for more than a half-century, he has been at the forefront of the fight to advance fundamental freedoms and protect civil rights and civil liberties; Muneer Awad (Government), former executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Oklahoma Chapter; Mary Beth Tinker and Mike Hiestand (Education), for organizing the Tinker Tour, a national free speech and free press tour to promote the First Amendment through the stories of young people; Thomas Healy (Book Publishing), author of, The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind—and Changed the History of Free Speech in America (Metropolitan Books, 2013) and professor of law at Seton Hall; Christopher Finan (Law), president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, for presenting key issues on the impact of the 9/11 attacks on First Amendment rights to middle and high school students in his book, National Security and Free Speech: The Debate Since 9/11 (IDEBATE Press, 2013).
Photo credit: Janet Donovan
We were fascinated by the Glenn Greenwald award and so have included his video acceptance below where he describes the dangers of utilizing the First Amendment.
Christie Hefner addresses the Sterling fiasco, Glenn Greenwald and some life influences:
On the Hefner family dynamics:
Greenwald’s acceptance speech:
