‘Girls Gone Wild’ Founder Joe Francis Exposed in Peacock Docuseries

Anyone flipping previous a cable channel late at evening within the again half of the Nineteen Nineties and early aughts most likely had advertisements for “Girls Gone Wild” seared into their brains.  The immediately recognizable infomercials projected purposefully pixelated footage of younger girls pulling up their shirts to flash the cameras between photographs at a school city bar, or within the fog of spring break in Miami. The “Girls Gone Wild” emblem strategically lined any specific nudity, whereas an announcer with all of the subtlety of a foghorn hocked VHS tapes and ultimately DVDs stuffed with the unobstructed footage “too sizzling to point out on TV.” All of it was pitched as an opportunity to see the nice lady subsequent door go dangerous — for a low value, plus delivery and dealing with.

For most individuals, the heyday of “Girls Gone Wild,” the brainchild of Joe Francis, feels prefer it occurred a lifetime in the past. Francis’ shut affiliation with individuals just like the Kardashians and Ashton Kutcher on the peak of “Girls Gone Wild” definitely locations his meteoric ascent in a particular time on the daybreak of actuality TV and earlier than widespread social media. But the brand new Peacock documentary collection, “Girls Gone Wild: The Untold Story” makes the case that the franchise nonetheless has a hand in shaping discourse and standard tradition at present, at the same time as the ladies featured within the tapes proceed to stay with the scars of getting been included in them. The documentary, from director Jamila Wignot, is predicated largely on reporting by journalist and co-executive producer Scaachi Koul, who interviewed Francis’ at his Mexico house in 2022, the place for a decade he has been dwelling in exile out of attain of authorized motion in opposition to him within the United States. Francis has vehemently and repeatedly denied all allegations in opposition to him.

Koul’s 9 hours of audio tapes from the interview, which have been first utilized in her HuffPost piece in 2023, give unprecedented perception into a person who continues to be clinging to the fantasy of a legacy he has lengthy fed anybody who will pay attention. At one level, he even calls himself the sufferer in all this. But the lasting influence of “Girls Gone Wild” is way darker than even earlier investigations had offered. Some of the ladies who, as faculty college students or youthful, have been featured prominently within the movies and their promotion, have by no means been in a position to escape them. As plenty of them recount within the collection, individuals nonetheless message them on-line or overtly come as much as them in particular person asking for autographs or to solicit additional grownup content material. Because they did it as soon as 25 years in the past with the assistance of some photographs, they have to be prepared to do it on the spot once more at present, proper?

In the documentary, former workers of Francis’ Mantra Films additionally element the allegedly coercive ways they have been inspired to make use of to get girls to disclose themselves for the movies, which went effectively past flashing, and would typically result in the ladies being plied with alcohol as they filmed hardcore scenes. In-house coaching movies additionally reveal how digicam operators have been advised to not take no for a solution.

Yet, the ethical implications of the franchise weren’t its downfall. In locations like Panama City Beach, Florida, Francis confronted months of jail time and chronic authorized motion from officers who alleged his firm had filmed underage ladies; and from contributors, who sued him for not correctly making ready or compensating them for his or her involvement.

The gradual draining of cash to pay authorized charges and settlements; a really public and expensive dispute with Las Vegas tycoon Steve Wynn; and the evolving accessibility of porn on-line chipped away at Francis’ firm till he was left with solely the scandals to feed his narrative. Francis did face authorized penalties in 2013, when he was convicted of holding three girls in his Los Angeles house in opposition to their will in 2011, and assaulting certainly one of them, for which he was sentenced to 270 days in jail. But throughout the appeals course of, he fled to Mexico and has but to return.

After years of labor mapping out the “Girls Gone Wild” phenomenon and monitoring down Francis, Koul spoke to Variety concerning the new documentary, the rise and fall of his empire, the cultural and emotional implications of “Girls Gone Wild” at present, why celebrities and society so simply purchased into the fantasy again then — and whether or not the Kardashians nonetheless have him on velocity dial.

Did you ever suppose you’d be an knowledgeable on “Girls Gone Wild” and Joe Francis?

Dude, no! There is a lot that I learn about this firm now that I, like, can’t do math — that obtained pushed out of my mind, as a result of now I’ve a catalog of each “Girls Gone Wild” tape, the 12 months it got here out and what’s on it.

How did your interview with Joe Francis in Mexico and your reporting develop into concerned with this documentary?

Myself and Karolina Waclawiak, who is likely one of the producers on the doc, began this undertaking 4 years in the past. Karolina is a Gen X child, I’m a mid-range millennial and in the future she simply stated, “What occurred to ‘Girls Gone Wild’ and Joe Francis?” And I used to be like, “What a very good query that I’ve actually by no means considered in my life?” But we began wanting into it, and as soon as we realized there have been these authorized points that occurred in Panama City and this piece of Joe being in Mexico and never in a position to return, we thought that was fairly attention-grabbing. Maxine Productions got here on fairly early into that reporting course of, however I didn’t know the place it was going to go then. I spoke to Joe in Mexico in 2022, however I had achieved a number of reporting earlier than that and continued to do reporting lengthy after that interview.

Well that query of what occurred to Joe Francis took you to an undisclosed place in Mexico for this nine-hour interview that serves because the spine of this documentary. What was it like happening there and speaking with him on this new actuality he has constructed for himself, removed from Hollywood?

It’s a stupendous home, I’ll say that. He lives a really glamorous existence definitely, insofar as a proverbial exile would go. I imply, it’s a good life. I do suppose he’s into a number of myth-making. I feel he believes within the story he’s telling about how his firm got here to be and his function because the scion of it or the arbiter of this explicit type of tradition. But as for the interview, once I obtained in contact with him I stated it was as a result of I noticed there have been irregularities with what occurred in Panama City, and I feel he nonetheless thinks about that. He actually views the instances that he had there as type of the epicenter for the way the corporate began to collapse as a result of there have been so many points that he saved getting introduced again there. And he was petrified of jail.

Being in exile can also be a option to distance your self from anybody who would possibly attempt to refute your model of occasions.

Yes, he’s alone down there. His ex-partner has left with their kids. He, to my information, has not entered the United States in the previous couple of years, however I don’t know for certain. He does have individuals go to him once in a while, however I do suppose it’s a a lot quieter life than he had when he was dwelling in Bel Air and he was going to the membership with Kourtney Kardashian or somebody like that. It is a really completely different life now.

For those that weren’t searching for out “Girls Gone Wild” movies or saved up with the craze because it was unfolding, this documentary could be the primary time they notice these tapes really included pornographic scenes. It wasn’t simply ladies flashing the digicam. And but, “Girls Gone Wild” was broadly accepted and even promoted by a number of the greatest stars of the time, even when most porn is siloed to at least one nook of the trade. The documentary reveals images of individuals like Brad Pitt and Ashton Kutcher sporting the merch. Why was “Girls Gone Wild” the one which broke by way of?

I feel it was at all times as a result of it was common ladies. So, there are some things. That final piece of each tape that’s porn, there are nonetheless individuals who I might discuss to within the reporting at present, who don’t consider that that’s porngraphy as a result of it is just two ladies. To me, it’s an extremely outdated understanding of sexuality, sexual autonomy and physique autonomy. I don’t cosign that, however there have been so many individuals who believed it wasn’t porn as a result of it was simply two ladies messing round. And on prime of it, the 2 ladies usually knew one another, they have been pals, so how might or not it’s coercive or abusive in the event that they knew one another? That is one thing that’s nonetheless in our discourse once we discuss intercourse and sexual politics at present.

In phrases of why it broke out, these weren’t performers. These have been common ladies and that’s an enormous a part of the fantasy. In the heterosexual cis male psyche of 1999, you’ll be able to have a porn star —ou can have her as a result of anyone can have her. That’s the coding of these movies. But for the typical lady that lives down your block or is in your morning courses each Tuesday, the fantasy is that she is an efficient lady however for you, she isn’t. It sinks into the cultural psyche extra as a result of it’s accessible. It’s not likely a porn firm then, it’s only a model.

And a model might be placed on a hat.

Exactly, it’s on a hat after which a few well-known persons are into it as a result of possibly they don’t absolutely know what’s on it at first. They solely see the advertisements they usually see this man at these events, and he has cash and he has ladies. It was a distinct time. I imply, you couldn’t Google “what occurs in Act 3 of a ‘Girls Gone Wild’ video.” You wanted to have seen it in its entirety, and never simply an commercial for it.

Joe Francis was so intently related to the Kardashians within the early years of their fame. The documentary reveals a clip of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” when he known as into the present from jail in Florida. Kim Kardashian wore a “Free Joe” shirt in one other clip from that point, and advocated for his acquittal. Do you recognize his relationship with them at present? Have they disavowed him?

They didn’t remark to me for my reporting on this. I don’t suppose they’ve been seen with him or at his property for a number of years. One of the final occasions I keep in mind seeing images of them altogether, Kylie had her 18th birthday at his property in Mexico. She’s 27 now, so I definitely suppose that previously few years they’ve seen him much less. But I don’t know the form or texture of their relationship. I’m additionally interested by it too, as a result of he helped information them into a few of [that fame]. He was a part of the truth portion of it for certain.

That’s what’s humorous about doing the documentary as effectively. It might be a reconsideration that individuals such as you or I’ll watch and suppose, “Oh yeah, that is what it was like.” But it is usually a reintroduction to people who find themselves younger and don’t keep in mind what it was like then, and don’t know the roots of the Kardashians and the way they type of got here to public consciousness. Or who Joe was, and what his firm did and the way you continue to see it in our tradition at present within the people who we discuss. In the way in which we discuss girls — the way in which we discuss bodily autonomy. The means individuals say, “Your physique, my selection.” The means Donald Trump was reelected. It is all from stuff like this, or at the least it handed by way of stuff like “Girls Gone Wild.”

In the documentary, we hear from lots of people who interacted with Joe through the years whereas working for his firm, Mantra Films, and within the media who lined him. But one one who doesn’t make an look is Claire Hoffman, a former Los Angeles Times reporter who detailed in a 2006 story him allegedly assaulting her within the technique of reporting that very story. Why was she not included within the collection?

I do consider we reached out to her and she or he simply didn’t need to discuss. We spoke to her editor, Amy Wallace, who offers us all of that perception. But I can perceive why she didn’t. Joe Francis has been with me each day for 4 years, so I can see a world sooner or later the place somebody calls me and desires to speak about him and I don’t need to. He is overwhelming. You can hear that within the tape. He’s scary. All these different girls are going to let you know that on this documentary, how afraid they’re of him and the type of infrastructure he builds. And he’s exhausting. So I get it. But Claire is my hero, so she will do no matter she desires.

Speaking of the tape, there’s a second within the third episode whenever you ask him concerning the allegations from his ex-partner, Abbey Wilson, and he patently denies ever raping her or their two daughters. It is chilling that he provides the final half as a result of that was not a part of your query. Do you recognize why he insisted on saying that?

This got here up in my unique reporting within the story I wrote. Joe volunteered to me, on the report that Abbey accused him of molesting their daughters. He’s saying Abbey has accused him of that, however there isn’t a accusation from her or from her aspect of that. She has not put that in any report; her lawyer has not. And her lawyer denies that they consider that that has occurred. He has stated this, however her aspect has not, so I don’t know the place it’s coming from.

So he’s refuting it simply to refute it?

He’s refuting it, nevertheless it has by no means been introduced up by anyone however him. I’ve by no means heard it from anyone outdoors of him. I don’t suppose I’m ever actually going to have the ability to perceive him in that means. But you’ll be able to hear within the tape that he has an odd understanding of girls and ladies. Even when he says, “You can’t rape your partner” — it’s a reality you’ll be able to. So his model of the world could be very completely different from mine.

The documentary closes by pondering the legacy of “Girls Gone Wild” and Joe Francis, and the way his best punishment could also be irrelevancy. Do you suppose it’s attainable that he and “Girls Gone Wild” will ever be irrelevant?

No, I feel “Girls Gone Wild” will at all times be related, as a result of it would converse to the place we at the moment are and the place we’re going. Quite a lot of cultural occasions are related even when they aren’t heat issues that make you’re feeling good. And I do suppose Joe is afraid of being irrelevant. But greater than that, he desires to be considered as anyone who introduced one thing constructive into the world, and that I feel could be very a lot up for debate. So he might be related ceaselessly, certain. But what he has given us, I feel it relies upon who you ask and the day you ask it.

You’ve answered the query you got down to: What occurred to “Girls Gone Wild” and Joe Francis? But your reporting and this documentary suggests the story now rests with the ladies whose lives have been modified due to their involvement in all this. Is that the place you suppose it goes from right here?

It has at all times been their story, at all times, and can proceed to be. They will inform us the place it’s presupposed to land, and I’ll observe them, no matter they need to do with it. I really feel very conscious of how a lot their lives have modified as a result of they have been caught on a “Girls Gone Wild” tape. It is an influence that I’ll by no means absolutely perceive, so I really feel that duty. But the influence is evident. There is a private influence, and there’s a large cultural influence. I’m 33 and “Girls Gone Wild” has formed how I am going by way of the world as a girl with males, inevitably with out even making an attempt. And I by no means watched a tape earlier than I began engaged on this reporting. I noticed two advertisements. I used to be raised in Canada — I don’t even suppose they shipped up there! But it nonetheless had such an influence on me, which implies it would have an effect on how I discuss to different individuals and the way they work together with me. It will form how I discuss to my niece, who’s 14 and has no idea of this, however how I discuss to her about her physique and sexual politics, and the way she desires to maneuver by way of this world. I’ll give him that — he made one thing that individuals will keep in mind, they usually have.

Have you been in a position to make room for math once more in your mind and allocate much less house to Joe Francis now that this documentary is out? Or are you continue to conserving tabs on him?

He’s nonetheless [in Mexico]. He was hanging out with Mario Lopez in Mexico City a short while in the past. They have been posting about it on Instagram. So you recognize, I pop in however I don’t linger.

This interview has been edited and condensed.