Playboy’s former fashion director says he was the victim of discrimination at the girly mag because of his sexual orientation and age.
In a $4 million Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit, Joseph DeAcetis (pictured), 45, says his boss often “made fun” of him because he was gay and his hair was gray.
The suit says editorial director Christopher Napolitano called him and other gay men “girls.”
A Playboy Enterprises spokeswoman, Elizabeth Austin, said the company “takes these allegations very seriously” and was conducting its “own investigation.”
DeAcetis joined the mag in 2000 and became a staffer in 2005.
After DeAcetis went on CW11’s morning show to promote one of his sections in August, Napolitano complained that “gray hair was visible” and he “looked old.”
He told DeAcetis his younger, straight male assistant should do any future TV appearances because “his was the right look,” the suit says.
DeAcetis was fired two months later.