He was so proud of Cathouse, it hurt him deeply
when it was pulled from the air.
Without Cathouse to make him relevant,
he became more and more desperate
to get into the media.
He was upset about the county upping the rates
for licensing, and he got a suggestion,
"Well, why don't you run for office and solve that?"
If Donald Trump can do it, I can do it.
Hi, I'm Dennis Hof,
and I'm running for District 36.
And I thought...
he's just, you know, looking for free publicity.
Dennis Hof is our new Republican.
Man, his ego was through the roof.
He survived off of very little sleep.
He exhausted himself and his staff...
running for office.
He had won the primary,
so he thought he was totally untouchable.
Dennis has raped so many women
who haven't reported their crimes.
But when Dennis was running for office,
several women did come forward.
The new girl.
She went to the hospital and got a rape kit.
And the state police got involved.
Mr. Hof is extremely rough with her.
The police found out that Dennis was sending women
on these illegal out dates.
If Mr. Hof is found guilty of these crimes,
he's not coming home. He's gonna die in prison.
♪ [moody pop]
♪ You put me under the covers. ♪
♪ For all the world to see. ♪
♪ But I never recovered. ♪
♪ You never cared about me. ♪
♪ So now you're being uncovered. ♪
♪ I kept all the receipts. ♪
♪ You and all of the others. ♪
♪ Under a fantasy. ♪
♪
I was the madam for Dennis Hof's
southern operations...
which included Love Ranch Vegas.
Love Ranch Vegas...
is in the middle of the desert.
There's nothing out there.
And the clients go there for safety.
And anonymity.
How'd that work out for Lamar Odom?
♪
[News] Former NBA star, Lamar Odom,
is fighting for his life after he was found
unresponsive at a Nevada brothel.
♪
[Sonja] I was on a hiatus during
the Lamar Odom incident.
When I got back to the Love Ranch Vegas...
it was a...
a shattered brothel.
There were no customers coming.
Dennis was very upset.
Most of the women left.
Business just died, and I couldn't figure out,
how can they keep the lights on?
♪
[Commissioners] I pledge allegiance to
the flag of the United States of America.
♪
The Board of County commissioners are the ones
who create laws for the county.
Item 16, Town of Pahrump.
Resolution 20-17-02.
We vote on laws, we vote on policy.
We also oversaw liquor licenses
and brothels.
Are there any corrections?
If not, then we'll attain a motion.
When I saw it on the on the local news
that Lamar Odom OD'd,
that really kind of keyed me into,
we're not watching the brothels real well, guys.
And I expect people who have privilege licenses
to follow law, follow the rules.
So, I got the other commissioners
to agree that we need to, like,
update our brothel ordinance.
We need to, like, raise the fees.
We need to make sure they're being checked on.
That, you know, the properties are...
safe for customers.
Hof and his acolytes came to a meeting
and screamed and yelled.
[Commissioner] Quiet, Dennis.
Dennis, Dennis, you want to talk,
come up here and speak on the mic.
Behave yourself.
[Dan] What was his problem?
The other brothels didn't, didn't balk.
But Hof, he was, he was just incensed.
♪
Around 2016-ish,
Cathouse is essentially off the air.
HBO, they say that there's not a demand for it
on television anymore because people can get
that type of content elsewhere,
like in streaming, you know, digital media.
But I really think it's about HBO solidifying
its brand as a prestige cable network.
The world of Cathouse
is not consistent with the types of sort of
high-quality dramas
that HBO was now known for.
He was so proud of Cathouse.
It hurt him deeply when it was pulled from the air
and they are no longer selling DVDs.
[Sonja] I mean, he's an admitted narcissist.
Uh, he loved to be adored.
He loved the spotlight, he loved money.
And the Cathouse series gave him all of that.
[DeAnne] After Cathouse, Dennis had a really
hard time getting in the, the media.
I mean, the radio shows didn't want him.
TV shows didn't want him.
It was always the same old bull [beep]
and nobody was interested.
So, now without Cathouse to make him relevant,
he became more and more desperate
to get into the media.
♪
[Sonja] He was on the phone while I was there,
and he was upset about
the county upping the rates for the licensing,
and all of his fees, and...
he got a suggestion from the person on the other end of
the line, "Well, why don't you run for office and,
and solve that?"
I think it was Tucker Carlson was on the one that said,
"Dennis, you can't complain about it unless
if you're willing to do something about it."
♪
[Dan] In Nevada, we have an assembly
and we have a senate.
When I heard he was gonna run for state legislature...
and calling himself a Republican, I thought...
he's just, you know, looking for free publicity,
'cause this Republican party,
they'll never accept this pompous...
blowhard pimp.
He's a huckster, he's a conman.
They've gotta see it.
Dennis Hof is our new Republican.
[applauding]
I want to thank Dennis for joining the party
and being supportive of where we're gonna be
going in the future.
[Dan] They didn't see it.
[Sonja] Dennis, he's not political.
So, he donated equally to Democrats and Republicans.
But Republicans have a better shot
where he was running,
so that's why he picked the Republican party.
♪
[Dennis] I joined the Republican party.
I've done all the right things.
They're supporting me.
Hi, I'm Dennis Hof,
and I'm running for District 36 Assembly.
Dennishof.com.
[Paris] I was a working girl at Dennis Hof's
Love Ranch Vegas for 5 years,
and Dennis Hof's girlfriend.
Dennis and I...
got really close...
when he started running for state assembly
in Southern Nevada.
I was by his side during his whole campaign.
[Sonja] He's got this big billboard
with his picture on it, with his dog,
and his horse, and his ranch,
and he's got a cowboy hat on with his gun,
and everybody has to go by and see a picture of him.
And he's getting all that attention.
He loved people to love him.
And, with the Cathouse series
basically off the air...
the circles of girls that were around him
were shrinking.
And this politics
was filling in the gap for him.
♪
When I found out Dennis Hof was running for office,
I was angry.
So, I did go in front of the commissioners to try to
let people know what type of person he was.
Hi, my name is Jennifer O'Kane,
and I drove from Battle Mountain, Nevada to, um,
sit in front of you today.
[Dan] We're in a county commission meeting, and...
Jennifer O'Kane, at public comment,
came and spoke.
She began to recount
a rape accusation against Hof.
[Jennifer] I'm gonna read something to you
so I don't go squirrel.
Ah, so please bear with me, okay?
[sighing]
Thank you very much for allowing me
to address you today. [clearing throat]
[voice breaking] My name is Jennifer Lynn O'Kane.
[exhaling sharply]
[Dan] She began to recount
a criminal accusation.
As, as the chairman,
you shouldn't let that go on,
and I turned to the chairman at the time and told him,
"We really need to cut her off."
[Commissioner] J-J-Jennifer. Jennifer?
[Jennifer] Yes, sir?
Having to say in front of the commissioners,
"I was raped," is the most
humiliating thing you can imagine.
But then to be told...
to stop it, I can't even describe how I felt.
[Commissioner] I know where you're getting ready
to go to. I really appreciate it.
Don't leave the building. Just sit and relax.
[Jennifer] Okay.
[Commissioner] Again, thank you, Jennifer.
I know where you're going.
♪
[Commissioner] Thank you.
[Dan] We knew what she has to say is important,
but we can't let her continue.
She needs to go to the Sheriff and the DA.
And that's what happened.
♪
[Jennifer speaking]
♪
[Jennifer] It was horrible when I was
a working girl for Dennis Hof.
So, I told the police
that Dennis Hof raped me.
Dennis Hof had intercourse with me without a condom.
I gave them all of the information and told them
how I went to the madam right afterwards,
and I said, "He just raped me."
[Jennifer]
[Detective Brainard]
[Jennifer]
[Detective Brainard]
[Jennifer]
[Detective Brainard]
[Jennifer]
[Detective Brainard]
[Jennifer]
[Jennifer] And, uh, we talked...
for a very long time. They did listen to me.
Every crime has to have evidence,
even the most emotionally compelling ones,
like sex assault, especially in our modern day and age,
where we want to give the victims
the benefit of the doubt.
But down the road, years, days, months later,
to prove sexual assault can be a challenge.
♪
[Dan] I felt bad for her,
she had the courage to come say...
what happened to her, and there was never
a case filed, that I know of.
[Jennifer] Maybe they didn't have enough evidence.
And maybe it was a few years since he raped me,
but I needed to let people know, yes, he raped me.
He's a monster.
♪
[DeAnne] A woman is an object to exploit and abuse.
That's what a woman is to Dennis.
Dennis was well-practiced. He knew how
to do what he did and get away with it.
[News] The 71-year-old Hof denies the allegations,
saying it is a political ploy to deter him from
pushing forward on his race for the assembly.
♪
[Sonja] Dennis was inspired by Donald Trump
because he was successful.
He also liked the fact that he was a businessman.
He liked his charisma.
I think though the main reason he allied himself
with Trump was simply for pragmatic reasons,
that that's what was gonna make him win.
♪
The politicians didn't think Dennis could win
because of the prostitution affiliation.
People didn't understand who he was.
They would call him "the pimp."
[Paris] At the beginning of the campaign,
Dennis told me, "You know, Paris,
it's not gonna be easy, and there's gonna be
a lot of things that are gonna stand in the way
as well, but if we build up a strong team...
then we can win this."
[News] He considers himself the Trump of Pahrump.
[Dennis] If Donald Trump can do it, I can do it.
[Sonja] Dennis's tagline, "Trump from Pahrump,"
he knew that it would help him...
be able to ride on Trump's coattails.
Ah, it was catchy.
It almost assured him of winning in that area
because now people associated him with Trump.
[Woman] You know, you've got a new slogan.
It's up on your boards, and it says,
"Make Nevada Nevada Again."
[Vernon] He would come in, do interviews and...
he spent a lot of money here on television advertising,
radio advertising, because he really
wanted to win the election.
You'd see him at Petrack Park.
You'd see him at the Harvest Festival.
You would see him everywhere.
Everybody would come up to him,
"Dennis! Dennis! How are you doing?"
[Dennis] I know you all know that I'm rich.
I know you all know that I'm famous.
I mean, I've spoke at Oxford University.
I'm a guy that came, came from a
World War 2 family. We didn't have any money.
My dad was a mailman, an honorable man.
I'm just a regular guy.
I have just as much fun hanging out
in the back of a restaurant with the staff
as I am in the front with the owner.
[Vernon] He was so polite to everybody.
He would just...
say hi to anybody, try to carry on a conversation.
Fantastic guy.
♪
[Dan] Every good conman comes across as
affable, and...
I mean, you're not a good conman if you don't.
But I could see through it.
We need to stop him.
♪
[Sonja] There were a lot of people
that made our livings in the brothels
that were not excited about Dennis going into politics
because it's like poking a hornet's nest.
And Dennis...
really enjoyed poking the hornet's nest.
♪
[Dan] I started in 2017
looking at Dennis' businesses,
and there were a lot of violations.
♪
The condition of these brothels was horrible.
There was really no maintenance upkeep on them.
They were very old trailers pushed together.
I had an electrician come in one day to the Kit Kat,
and he shook his head and said,
"This whole thing needs to be replaced
to bring it up to code."
Dennis refused, and a few years later,
the Kit Kat burned down.
[DeAnne] Dennis also had some safety issues
with the Love Ranch South.
They were required to have
a fire marshal safety inspection.
And Dennis wouldn't do that
because he couldn't pass the inspection.
[Dan] The floors need to be reinforced,
the doors need to open out.
There's all this stuff that needs to happen...
if you're using them for commercial use.
And he refused.
♪
By this time, he's running for office,
so he thought that...
we could be bullied.
So, in the meeting in December,
after I had laid out to Dennis,
"Look, your brothels are violating our code.
Oh, and by the way,
you're late paying your fees again."
And in our code,
if they don't pay their fees on time,
you take their license.
Mr. Hof still has failed to comply, and for that fact,
I make a motion to deny his
brothel license on that property.
[Sonja] What a catastrophe that was.
♪
After the Lamar Odom incident,
it took me a while to get us
back up on our feet.
And all of a sudden, it was closed.
♪
[Paris] I believe it was all politically motivated.
And it was by 4 out of the 5 county commissioners...
because they did not want him in politics.
[DeAnne] And then the newspaper article comes out.
♪
[News] The second woman,
identified as Diana Grandmaison,
claims she was assaulted by Hof inside the Bunny Ranch
in Carson City while working there in June of 2009.
If he decides he wants to sleep with one of us,
we have to sleep with him.
So, I had no choice but to submit.
He's a bad person.
♪
[DeAnne] Dennis has raped so many women
who haven't reported their crimes.
But, when Dennis was running for office,
several women did come forward.
♪
My name is Theresa Lowe.
I went to the Love Ranch North
at the time, and met Dennis Hof.
He was, um, very charismatic.
Everyone listened to him. The cashier called me,
and said, "Dennis is sending the car for you,
please get ready." I thought, okay...
I didn't know what that meant.
They took me out to a beautiful ranch
alongside a mountainside...
Walked in the house...
"Let's go upstairs."
And he raped me.
♪
[Sonja] When all the allegations hit the press,
I was not surprised.
He was always good to me and respectful,
but I don't presume that he has been that way
to every person.
I saw enough of him to see a darker side.
[Theresa] And it was violent, um...
Choking me.
Grabbing me by the hair, no condom.
When it was over, I was crying.
And the driver said, just, "It's gonna be alright,
it happens to everybody."
♪
[Paris] When I first heard of the allegations,
I was fairly upset.
I thought we kind of were on the same page.
No secrets, no surprises.
So, I talked to Dennis about it,
and Dennis said it's not true.
♪
And I realized you can't help but notice
the timing of these things, and what's being said
and the motivation behind them.
[Theresa] It's disgusting that an owner
gets to do what he gets to do,
and for him to run for public office is an insult,
because who can he rape then?
♪
[Sonja] Dennis never spoke about
the rape allegations whatsoever,
and no one would have ever brought it up to him
without him bringing it up first.
[Glen] Water off a duck's back.
Didn't slow him down. No matter how hard
they tried to get in Dennis's way,
he always just came out ahead.
[Sonja] Dennis Hof put the same energy into his
political campaign that he did in the houses.
He would sleep maybe 4, 5 hours
in a 24-hour span.
♪
And he exhausted himself and his staff
running for office.
[Paris] He was unstoppable.
There was nothing that could taint him.
And the more campaigning that was done,
the more people that were like, "Oh, this is our guy."
♪
[News] Dennis Hof believes he'll ride that Trump wave,
even as one of the country's most
unconventional candidates, right into office.
[Paris] We're at the place where we
do all the Republican meetings.
It was packed full,
and there's people inside, outside.
Like everyone's just walking around, pacing.
Nobody can sit still.
And then finally, the TV...
announces the results.
[News] This week, Dennis Hof is not making headlines
for the brothels he owns,
or the HBO reality show he starred in,
but for beating out an established Republican
in Nevada's primary election.
♪
[Paris] And, I can't even explain to you...
the feeling that went over that room.
♪
There's a picture of Dennis when he heard that he won.
It's the most emotion I've ever seen
captured from Dennis. It was so amazing.
I was right there with him, and he just cried,
and he was just overjoyed.
♪
[Sonja] The rape allegations...
had zero, zero effect on his campaign.
[DeAnne] When Dennis won the primary
against James Oscarson,
man, his ego was through the roof.
He thought that he could conquer anything.
[Dan] In July of 2018, Hof had...
complete control of the Republican party.
He had won the primary,
so he thought he was totally untouchable.
[Sonja] I totally expected Dennis to win because
I was seeing behind the scenes.
I knew how much work they put into the campaign.
[News] In November, Hof will face off
against newcomer Democrat and
school principal, Lesia Romanov.
The pair making up an unconventional battle
over Nevada Assembly District 36.
♪
Nye County is very right...
wing, conservative.
There's a lot of people here that still carry guns.
They believe in
that freedom of being an American citizen.
♪
[Dennis] Nevada's about freedom, low tax,
carry your gun, drink, gamble,
smoke weed, and go to a brothel.
Leave us alone.
[Paris] Tucker Carlson gave Dennis advice,
and it came to a point where he was talking to Tucker
like almost every morning.
He was asking, "What do you think about this?"
And so, Dennis would take his opinion
into consideration because they had
a lot of the same political views.
♪
[Dan] He had charisma.
There's no doubt about it.
He's charismatic.
But, politicians follow laws.
And on Labor Day weekend 2018,
Dennis Hof broke the law.
♪
There was this one young woman
who came in to work. Sarah Drescher.
She was a cute, little blonde.
She had only been there a couple days.
I think she just got on the floor.
♪
But the morning I was on shift...
Dennis called, said to have the driver
take her to him, that...
he was having breakfast with her.
♪
So she left, went to see him.
And I was noticing, I'm like,
it's been like three hours, and she's not back yet.
I just had a bad feeling.
And three hours later,
she comes walking through the gate, like,
with her head down, like, really,
and goes to her room, and I ask, "Are you okay?"
And she just waves me off.
This doesn't look good.
The next day, HR called me.
I told her exactly what I saw,
and how she acted when she came back
because apparently that morning
she went to the hospital and got a rape kit.
[Detective Tucker]
[Sarah]
[Detective Tucker]
[Sarah]
[Detective Tucker]
[DeAnne] This time, Dennis...
wasn't gonna get away with it.
♪
So, on September 2nd, 2018,
a woman does come forward to level
an allegation of sexual assault against Dennis Hof.
And the Sheriff's Department in Carson City responds.
[Detective Tucker]
[Ashton] She's at an area hospital in northern Nevada,
awaiting what's known as a sexual assault
response team examination.
[Detective Tucker]
[Sarah]
[Detective Tucker]
[Sarah] Mm-hm, yeah. [Tucker] Okay.
[Detective Tucker]
[Sarah]
[Ashton] She ends up texting with Mr. Hof over the phone.
And ultimately being brought out to his residence.
[Detective Tucker]
[Sarah]
[Detective Tucker]
[Sarah]
[Detective Tucker]
[Sarah]
[Detective Tucker]
[Sarah]
♪
[Ashton] Once there's an allegation and
you're seeing signs of sexual assault...
♪
[doorbell rings]
[Ashton] And there is the medical examination that
builds on probable cause that a crime has occurred.
[knocking]
[Officers]
[Ashton] The location of that crime
was Mr. Hof's residence.
[Ashton] Investigators were able to obtain
a search warrant from a judge.
They wake that judge up at 2:00 in the morning,
and they get the permission from the judge
right then and there on the phone.
♪
And they were able to serve that search warrant
at Mr. Hof's residence in northern Nevada.
♪
[Ashton] Investigators in this case are
going to be looking for those specific items
that the victim described.
[Detective Tucker]
[Sarah speaking]
[Detective Tucker]
[Sarah]
[Ashton] So, these are details that
a victim would remember and know from having
been in that location from such a short time before.
That initial statement is very important to build
a case, a criminal case, against him.
♪
[Officer] Here's his .357 round.
[Dennis Hof speaking]
[DeAnne] I've read the report of the rape
that happened on Labor Day weekend.
And the story that this young woman told is the same story
that several women told me that Dennis did to them.
And these are women who didn't even know each other.
So, I 100% believe her.
[Sonja] He choked her.
She said that she told him no.
And that fits with my gut instinct
when I first heard about it. So...
Even if she didn't have the physical evidence,
I would have believed her.
My opinion.
Dennis has as much...
as he wants...
when he wants it, how he wants it.
Why would he do something that would be...
illegal, or cause him problems of
losing all the licenses that he has?
♪
[Ashton] During the service of this search warrant,
the investigators, they recovered
Mr. Hof's electronic devices.
For Mr. Hof, the text messages are
what the investigators really want to get.
But ultimately, you're gonna find other evidence of crime
when you get into criminals' phones.
And the investigator said this could really change
things for Mr. Hof because if Mr. Hof is found guilty
of these crimes, he's not coming home.
He's gonna die in prison.
[Ashton] When investigators serve that search warrant
at Mr. Hof's residence,
they recovered the phone and his...
computer equipment, like his iPad.
[DeAnne] So, that's how the police found out that Dennis
was sending women on these illegal out dates.
An out date is a euphemism
for having the woman meet you in a
hotel room or somewhere off the property,
or even outside the state of Nevada,
which strictly was forbidden.
[Sonja] Some of the biggest high rollers of all
frequently are on out dates,
they don't even go to the house.
They can get booked without even getting near it.
[Ashton] So, Mr. Hof, probably very nervous
once those phones and the iPad were taken,
because once you get into the device,
you start to find other crimes
that he may be engaging in,
bringing people over state lines to engage in
prostitution, sending girls from the brothel
out into parts of the state where it's illegal.
[Sonja] Here's the thing about narcissists.
They don't acknowledge...
failure or defeat.
So, the whole rape thing
that was looming over him...
it just didn't exist.
You don't acknowledge things...
that you don't like in your world.
♪
When the allegations came out,
Dennis was like, "Okay, we've been here
campaigning for 4 months, shut it down.
There's no need for you to stay here.
Let's go home."
I was going to be with my kids.
He was gonna go prepare for his birthday party.
♪
[Sonja] Dennis's birthdays,
he treated them like national holidays.
And it was at all the different brothels.
He invited everybody,
so he got to feel very important.
♪
I went to his birthday party,
which was held at The Nugget.
♪
They're all celebrating his birthday
and his political campaign.
♪
[Paris] He had got a suite for me at the Flamingo,
and I wasn't able to make it.
I was like, "Dennis, I'm, I'm really sick.
And I'm gonna try to come out...
the next day or two."
He asked me a couple of times...
if I was sure I didn't want to come, and I was like,
that's weird, Dennis only asks once.
I didn't think anything of it.
[Alice] The day after the party,
I was on my way to the Ranch,
and I got a call from one of my colleagues,
and he goes, "Alice, where are you?"
I'm like, "I'm on the road," and he goes,
"Pull over or something." I'm like,
"What the [beep] is going on? Tell me right now."
[Sonja] I was in Tennessee,
and a reporter called me,
and they said, "Is the news about Dennis true?"
And I said, "Well, um, it depends.
What news are you talking about?"
♪
[News] Dennis Hof was found unresponsive,
not breathing, at his Love Ranch brothel
near Las Vegas this morning.
The 72-year-old Hof was the Republican candidate this
year in a heavily Republican state legislative district.
♪
This guy had been my friend for 25 years,
on the bed, you know,
stiff, you know, cold,
eyes at half mast, it's like, "What the heck?"
[Vernon] The night before he died,
I get to his birthday party, the room is packed,
there's 300 people in this room,
and I'm videotaping him. And so, I...
I ask him, I said, "How do you feel?
What's going on?" He goes, "I feel great!"
[Dennis] We started out five days ago.
We've been partying and we're gonna keep it going.
My birthday party just keeps going.
We do it for a whole month.
[Sonja] And they go back to the Love Ranch Vegas.
He had his suite there at the Love Ranch...
and he went to sleep.
[DeAnne] The next morning,
Ron Jeremy goes to see Dennis.
♪
[Paris] Ron, um, initially found him.
And I think Ron was probably in denial.
And, to the point where he needed somebody to
verify that this was really happening.
[Ron] People just love the living daylights
out of the guy.
♪
[Ashton] The Nye County Sheriff's Department
responds to the scene where Mr. Hof is found dead.
[News] At this time, detectives and deputies
are on scene conducting an investigation.
[Ashton] And ultimately, a medical examiner
concludes that Mr. Hof passed away
of basically a heart attack in his sleep.
I was at home when I learned that
Dennis had died, in the very same bed...
that Lamar overdosed on.
[Paris] [quietly crying]
[Shonda] Some girls cried.
Some girls celebrated in silence
'cause they didn't like him.
It was mixed emotions all over.
My personal emotions was I was in shock.
[Sonja] I couldn't believe that he was dead
'cause we had just talked to him the night before.
[Paris] I just never wanted him to die alone because
he deserved better than that,
and he died alone.
♪
[DeAnne] My reaction?
It wasn't happiness or joy or anything like that.
It was relief.
Because I knew he wasn't going to hurt
other women anymore.
♪
[Ashton] Ultimately, with Mr. Hof deceased,
the criminal investigation stops because...
there's no body to bring in front of a judge and a jury
to hold him accountable to the crimes.
And so, unfortunately, for the victim,
she never got that closure
through the criminal investigation.
[Shonda] I felt awful for her.
She never saw justice.
♪
Dennis Hof was just another millionaire
getting his way with everyone.
[Jennifer] After years, and years, and years
of trying to get this man in jail...
He's dead.
I will never ever, ever...
have justice. Ever.
[News] I spoke with the Secretary of State's Office
this afternoon, and really, his death doesn't change
that much for the election process.
Nevada law says a notice of the candidate's death
will be posted at each polling place
where his name appears on the ballot,
but Hof will stay on the ballot.
People still will be able to vote for him.
♪
[Paris] I drove down to Southern Nevada
for the election.
I wanted to see through what we started.
And it was definitely a different feel
than the first time around.
So, at the table up front is myself,
and then we have Zack over here, and...
we get the results.
♪
And Dennis wins by a landslide.
A bittersweet moment it was.
You almost felt ripped off for him.
I knew he was gonna die.
He had bad health.
The man was a diabetic, he was limping around.
He wasn't taking care of himself,
but there were rumors going around about his death,
that he was poisoned or someone murdered him.
His death was very questionable.
And they thought so in Vegas because
they kept the body for quite a long time because
they felt like something was wrong with this,
but they couldn't pinpoint anything
so they had to release the body.
♪
[Paris] Maybe I'm wrong, I hope that I'm wrong,
but for them to all of a sudden say that
he died from a heart attack?
I don't believe it. I don't.
[Jennifer] Good riddance?
But he also died in a very weird way.
I really feel like it was staged.
I really feel, um...
that he got dropped something, finally.
♪
[Alice] Much in the same way that his birthday
was this crazy, grand event...
so too was his death!
Like, this man did not do anything small!
He lived life tremendously large,
and definitely went out with a bang too.
♪
His legacy is that he revolutionized...
the legal brothel industry.
♪
[Dennis] I'm the new breed of brothel owner.
[Amy] He took it over by storm.
He put it in everyone's living rooms.
He took us from guilt and shame...
to glamour and fame.
HBO and Dennis Hof found a way
to make a softcore porn
and market it as a documentary.
But what was true,
that sleazebag on Cathouse.
That was Dennis' core nature.
That's really who he was.
♪
[Bekah] Dennis, in my opinion,
was a vile, disgusting human being,
but he was very charismatic,
like many manipulators are.
He knew how to sell.
He definitely had that
used car salesman kind of vibe.
Women are just commodities.
You know, I think when someone pays you for
your body, you cease to be a human to them.
♪
I tried up until right before he died
to get him to respect me.
I wanted Dennis to see me as...
somewhat of an equal, like I had a brain.
Not just a body.
♪
[Sonja] Dennis Hof's legacy is extremely mixed.
He wanted to be on the map in the sex industry.
He wanted to be a household name.
He wanted his brothels to stand out
and be shining beacons of how you can
uplift the sex industry.
He wanted all of that.
♪
[Sonja] He didn't get all of that.
♪
We live in a capitalist system in which
buying and selling is the nature of this system.
And when it involves buying and selling people,
people's images, the entertainment of people,
all of those things involve moral compromise...
to the extent that my images
recruited people...
who were then...
damaged by their experience there.
I'm guilty.
[Taina] That day will come,
and we will be ashamed of...
what we were promoting as entertainment,
when in fact it was...
just abject human rights abuses...
that were happening with impunity.
♪