'Soul Train' creator Don Cornelius accused of brutally assaulting playboy bunnies

Don Cornelius, the former host and creator of television's "Soul Train," has been named among the powerful men who took advantage of young women in "Playboy."

The Playboy signature Bunny look played a huge role in the magazine becoming a global empire. However, the women who posed in the costumes are now revealing the trauma they had to suffer behind the scenes. The iconic uniform, which featured a snugly tailored satin leotard, tuxedo-style wrist cuffs and choker neckpieces, fishnets, sky-high stilettos, rabbit ears and a fluffy bunny tail, required the women wearing it to undergo intense scrutiny, physical suffering, and emotional fallout before they wore the costume.

Apart from the difficult work environment and strict weight-maintaining regimes, the bunnies had to also suffer sexual abuse at the hands of powerful men. PJ Masten, a former Playboy "bunny mother," has revealed in A&E's 10-part docuseries "Secrets of Playboy" that Don Cornelius was also among the perpetrators.

Cornelius reportedly locked up and violently sexually assaulted two young playboy bunnies decades ago. Masten claims about the assault, "It was probably the most horrific story I've ever heard at Playboy. This story is the story of a massive cleanup that never hit the press."

Masten, who worked for Playboy from 1972-82, said that Cornelius was a Playboy VIP and a familiar face to the girls. He was hanging out at a Hollywood dance bar where the bunnies often hung out, and spotted the victims, two sisters who were new recruits at Playboy.

He allegedly invited the sisters to join him in the bar's VIP area, and later invited them to accompany him to his house for a party, with the intent of exploiting them. Masten claims, "These two young girls got in his Rolls-Royce, went up to his house and we didn't hear from them for three days. We couldn't figure out where they were."

Masten recalls they finally found out about the girls' whereabouts after one of the girls called a bunny mother at the Playboy Mansion and revealed their location. Joe Piastro, Playboy's head of security who went to pick them up, found them "bloodied, battered [and] drugged."

The girls, who have not been named in the documentary, alleged that Cornelius locked them in separate rooms at his house where they were "tied up and bound." Masten said, "There were wooden objects that they were sodomized with and [one sister] could hear [the] other sister being brutalized. It was horrible, horrible."

She added that the victims did not notify the police and were asked to stay silent about the matter. Meanwhile, Cornelius's VIP privileges were never suspended and he was back in the club the following week.

Cornelius's son, Tony Cornelius, is defending the late television personality against the accusations, telling People magazine that Masten's account is an "unbelievable story without real proof" and full of "salaciousness."