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This is a somewhat-old L.A. Times article about Joe Francis, the founder of Girls Gone Wild, and how he assaulted the writer outside of a night club.

When I was a reporter for my college paper, I interviewed Joe Francis. Francis and his party bus and camera crew stopped at a local club (called, predictably, 8 Traxx) and looked for competition-worthy girls for the Girls Gone Wild national pageant. My town was just another regional stop (full of interchangable blonde sorority girls) on their way to nationals in Hollywood. It only took one email to the Girls Gone Wild website to get access to the event and Francis, a terrible and awkward surprise after I thought no one would answer an email sent to their general ‘questions and comments’ address.

Three photographers from the college paper came with me, even though one was more than enough (the staff was all male). So somewhere, in their archives, there’s a photo of me in a Girls Gone Wild mesh trucker hat, sitting on Joe Francis’s knee with a whiskey on ice in my hand. They normally never take photos of staff members while they’re out doing stories, but they couldn’t resist–mostly because they knew how embarrassed I was.

This L.A. Times article mentions how charming and pursuasive Francis can be, but I don’t know if there’s a way to explain it, really. I guess I was naive to think the same guy who’s gotten several thousand women to take off their tops on camera for no money wouldn’t try to steer the direction of the interview. Anyway, here’s my old college paper story. Now I’d appreciate it if someone could step forward with the photos, because I need something for my CMJ bio.