CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- A Playboy editor who was fired after more than 30 years with the company filed a federal suit, claiming he was dismissed because the magazine wanted a younger staff that might attract younger readers.
The suit, filed Wednesday by John Rezak against Playboy Enterprises in U.S. District Court in Chicago, seeks unspecified damages, including back and future pay.
Rezak, 54, was an associate managing editor when he was fired last November.
His suit said Playboy Enterprises wanted more readers ages 18 to 34.
According to the complaint, Executive Vice President Howard S. Shapiro said in March 2003 that the company believed the only way to change the "demographics of the magazine was to change the demographics of the people who put the magazine out."
Messages seeking comment were left Thursday at Playboy offices in Chicago and New York.
The company told the Illinois Department of Employment Security that Rezak's position was relocated to New York.
Rezak said in the lawsuit that he offered to moved to New York, but the company told him he was not invited, citing a "difference in sensibility and a duplication of skill sets."
The lawsuit claimed Rezak's duties were then assigned to someone much younger.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Midwest/0....ap/index.html