“Playboy” censors itself, Lamar Odom cokes himself into a coma, Larry David channels Bernie Sanders, and a burrito the size of a toddler. Here’s what was in the news 10 years ago this week.
“Playboy” announced no more nudity
CEO Scott Flanders announced the mag was ditching full-frontal and going PG-13. Flanders said there was simply no need for it in 2015. “You’re now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free,” he said at the time. Hugh Hefner was in on the decision and signed off on the move.
Their first boob-free issue was published four months later in February 2016, but the new policy wouldn’t last long. The move didn’t help sales, Flanders left in 2016 to head up eHealth, and Hugh’s son Cooper Hefner announced they’d be returning to their roots.
He bluntly called the move a “mistake,” and the magazine’s boobless phase lasted only a year. Nudity would return in March 2017.
Lamar Odom almost died during a coke-fueled sex binge
The former Laker was two years removed from his NBA career – and in the middle of divorcing Khloe Kardashian – when he went on a coke binge and was found unconscious at the Love Ranch, a legal brothel in Crystal, Nevada.
He suffered multiple heart attacks, kidney failure, 12 strokes, and was in a coma for several days before he finally regained consciousness. He recovered, got clean, and invested in three drug rehab centers in California in 2023.
Tracy Morgan returned to “SNL”
It was 16 months after he’d nearly lost his life in a car crash that killed friend and fellow comedian James McNair. The episode was also the first to feature Larry David as Bernie Sanders.
David Bowie retired from touring
His promoter announced his touring days were over, saying, “Every time I see him now, before I even speak to him, he goes, ‘I’m not touring,’ and I say, ‘I’m not asking.’ He has decided to retire.” Bowie was secretly battling liver cancer after being diagnosed in 2014. He found out he was terminal in late 2015 and passed away on January 10, 2016, two days after his 69th birthday.
Erin Andrews sued for $75 million after being peeped on
The peeping happened in 2008 when a pervy stalker filmed her through a peephole at a Marriott in Nashville. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail for it. She sued after learning the hotel had told him she was there – even giving him a room next to own. A jury eventually awarded her $55 million.
Craziest sick day excuses
Career Builder asked bosses for the craziest sick day excuses they’d ever heard. Highlights included “stuck under my bed,” “grandmother poisoned me with ham,” and “my cat is stuck in my dashboard.”
We’d officially stopped trying to remember stuff
Half of Americans polled admitted they didn’t try to remember information or facts anymore – they just immediately googled everything. Over half also admitted they didn’t know their significant other’s phone number.
Emilia Clarke was Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive
“Game of Thrones” was gearing up for Season 6, which would feature her character Daenerys Targaryen emerging from a burning Dothraki temple unscathed – and unclothed.
Eat a 30-pound burrito, become a business owner
A Mexican place in Brooklyn called Don Chingon went viral for offering an owner’s stake to anyone who could finish their 30-pound burrito. No one did it, and the publicity stunt didn’t work. The restaurant was out of business two years later.
The 25 most re-watchable movies of all time
FiveThirtyEight crunched the numbers after polling 1,169 people, and determined the most re-watchable movie of all time was the original “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.” Rounding out the top five were “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Lord of the Rings,” and “Gone with the Wind.”
“Gone with the Wind”? Really? A four-hour movie with no Marvel characters?? Good luck getting anyone under 80 to watch that once in 2025!