All language subtitles for Secrets.of.the.Celebrity.Sex.Tapes.S01E01.Birth.of.the.Sex.Tape.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

There's something attractive
about the forbidden.

If I can see something
that I shouldn't be watching,

they can create this joy

or this feeling
of gratification,

especially when it comes to sex.

And our relationship with sex
is constantly

changing with the technology.

Well, who doesn't wanna watch
a good sex tape?

There is a strong interest.
People are ravenous.

They wanna see it, particularly
when it's a celebrity.

From the 1980s up until now,

we get a whole world
of celebrities

who've been involved
in sex tapes,

and they featured some
of the most iconic moments

that have propelled pop culture
forward and a little backward.

A tape was stolen
from Tommy Lee and myself.

We really
hadn't seen this before.

How did the tape get out there?

How did this happen?
Why are you not erasing it?

And how did it get
into the internet?

Like, how does this work?

Everybody was trying to see it.

We were building servers
as fast as we could get 'em.

It's all my fault.

The biggest names,
the smallest names,

some of the oddest characters,

people who you watch
every day on television.

It's Colin Farrell,
but what was most stunning

was the fact that the woman
was a Black woman,

and that was actually
very, very shocking to me.

I tell you, man,
everybody likes a little spice.

I'm telling you, man.

Celebrity sex tapes

have such a hold
on our consciousness.

Celebrity sex tapes
perfectly combine

all the things that
human beings are obsessed with--

power, beauty,
fame, sex, transgression.

I saw the original tape.

I saw two people
rolling on Ecstasy,

and one of them getting
peed on in a bathtub.

You think
A&E is gonna show that?

But it's not all fun and games.

There is a dark side to it
as well.

Jayne Kennedy.

She was certainly
Black America's sweetheart.

A sex tape made her go
into hiding. It destroyed her.

I didn't wanna have
anything to do with it.

I didn't want to see it.

I was very upset
and very disappointed

in my friend Dustin.

He wanted attention,

but he also wanted to be
back on the map again.

Mimi Faust is a great example of
someone who went through this.

First of all, let's be clear.
I don't watch porn.

So, for me to have a porn tape,

how bizarre
can my life even get?

Farrah Abraham
was not welcome with open arms

into the industry.

The animal that reality TV made
is my daughter.

I'm grateful she's not dead.

I can't believe I have
the best celebrity sex tape,

and I did all of this
being depressed and lost.

A picture is worth
a thousand words,

but a naked picture
of Jennifer Lawrence

is worth a lot more
to computer hackers.

It's just such
a violation of privacy.

These are images
from your phone.

Revenge porn
was now known as a thing.

"Celebgate," as a term,
implies that it's a scandal.

It's not a scandal.
It's a crime.

In the Katie Hill story,
these were very intimate photos.

You don't have ownership
to your body anymore.

I'm leaving because
of a misogynistic culture

that gleefully consumed
my naked pictures.

Yikes. How were we so wrong?

Because we generally
are fascinated

with everything celebrities do,

why would that not extend
to sex as well?

Like, we care about
the coffee they drink.

We care about
the liquor they consume.

We care about where they shop.

You think we're not gon' care
about how they [bleep]?

Like, of course we are.

You feel that icky feeling

that you're violating somebody,

and that's the allure
of the celebrity sex tape.

We get to see them in the most
intimate moment of their life.

There's a real sick joy in being
able to take them apart.

What makes celebrity sex tapes
so interesting--

it is a way of mainstreaming
the conversation about sex.

This stuff wouldn't
get talked about otherwise.

Sex tapes are huge.

It's encouraged
a whole generation now

to produce sex tapes.

Yeah, you made servers crash.

All these celebrities started
coming out with sex tapes.

She was straight up being like,
"This worked for Kim,

and now it's gonna work for me.

And it got to the point where
it was just getting absurd,

where it was like, okay, are we
really leaking these tapes?

You guys are just leaking these.
This is stupid.

I do wonder,
how did we get here?

You can watch anything
you want online today,

but there was a huge swath
of time

where video stores were doing
unbelievable business...

carrying regular feature films
and adult movies.

CineFile Video--we were
known all over the country--

as one of the more unique
and wild video stores

to have ever existed.

It opened up in 1999.

Some of the genres we had
were nunsploitation, Euro trash.

This is one
of my favorite sections

that we ever created
for the store.

"Shade Tippin',"
where the lead character

was like... ♪ wah-wah
tippin' their shades,

Wrestling bikers, kidnapping.

Of course, bikers and kidnapping
always go well together.

We had all manner of customers,
from celebrities

to folks that lived at
the VA hospital up the street.

One of the things we were
really proud of was the library

of bootleg celebrity sex tapes.

In the '70s and early '80s,
the sex tapes

were all underground.

They were sold kind of
in the black market,

whatever the black market was.

The legality
of all these bootleg tapes

was always in question.

If it was something
that was possibly

gonna get us in trouble,
we would make it a free rental,

So that you had to get
a paid rental in addition

to getting
this very illicit thing.

And I think that any customer
of ours over time learned

you know, if something has
a "free rental" sticker on it,

then it was fairly likely

the coolest [bleep]
in the entire store.

This is where all
the magic happened.

The customers that would
come in

for the underground
bootleg sex tapes,

like truffle hunters,

they knew what
the cover boxes looked like.

There was one that purported
to be Barbra Streisand,

but it wasn't. It was
clearly not Barbra Streisand.

It was just another lady
with a slightly larger nose.

The Chuck Berry pee tape.

Sadly, I have seen
the Chuck Berry pee tape.

The illicit nature
of these bootleg tapes

definitely had a value
for the customers.

Like, you weren't
supposed to be seeing this,

and maybe the MPAA
would come to your home

and storm it,
black trench coat-style...

if you happen to have a tape

of Barbra Streisand
in a 30-second porn loop.

CineFile would get a lot

of bootleg material
through other collectors.

In my mind,
it's like this sinister bad guy,

like the Penguin, you know,
like in "Batman,"

this, like, sweaty guy
that's, like, in this, like,

you know, a hoarder, and he's,
like, in his little basement.

He's like...
"I'm gonna make these videos,

like, these videos I have."

As the '80s progressed,

there's this kind of
elite trader circle, it seems,

that will get their hands
on this footage

before the general public does.

Like a gold circle
of sex tape collectors.

Well, about 30 years ago,

people all over the world were
trading celebrity sex tapes.

If the public's interested
in something

or they wanna see it,
they're gonna find a way to.

The celebrity thing
is the major reason

that people
would wanna see 'em.

And people that aren't
particularly into porno

would wanna see them because

they're basically
into sleazy voyeurism.

This is
"Porno of the Stars, Volume 1."

This has Marilyn Monroe,
which is--

is--is thought of as fake.

You could run together
any number of VCRs.

You could have, like,
a master VCR running

into five more VCRs
and make five copies at once.

The VCR changed porn
and our entire lives.

I bought a great VCR at Walmart.
Now I'm back for some good tape.

It was revolutionary.

The VCR--
you could tape and record on it.

A camera
and video recorder in one.

- Get a close-up, Joe.
- Yeah.

Before the VHS tape,

all the average citizen had
was a Super 8 camera,

and then you'd have to have
the film developed,

and then you'd have
to have a projector,

and nobody had these things.
When the VHS tape arrived,

suddenly there was a player
you could have in your home.

You could watch movies, and you
could watch dirty movies.

The VHS machine and the tapes

were one of the biggest
innovations in entertainment,

much like television,
and it seems like

every time there's
a new kind of technology,

sex is the first thing
that takes advantage of it.

I always think, like,
the cavemen,

when they discovered fire,

the first thing they did was
try to put their [bleep] in it.

You know what I mean?

Whether it's the printing press
with sexual imagery...

Whether it's photography
with nude photos...

Everything that's invented,

the first thing
they use it for is porn.

During the '80s,
as soon as the VHS came out,

amateurs--
they got the camcorder,

and instead of doing
the kid's birthday,

they started
making their own movies.

Make your own.

Oh, my God.

This weighs, like, 40--
this weighs more than my car.

- This is old school.
- This is a VHS camcorder.

First of all, it's been so long,
I don't even know where to look

through the--
look through the hole.

Those old sex tapes were
recorded on something like this.

Humans are consumed by sex.

It is an important part
of our lives.

It is a constant source
of fascination and speculation.

And so as technology progresses,

our ability to use technology
for sexual purposes progresses.

I suppose the camcorder

helped a certain kind
of porn genre,

the amateur style of porn.

It wouldn't be long
before a celebrity

recorded themselves having sex,
and that recording would

hit the mainstream
and change everything.

The camera that was
used was connected

with a cable like this one.

At some point, you see

this hand coming in
and caressing them.

And then they were
recording him.

I think of the '80s,

and I think of everybody's
shock and awe of the sex tape.

Do you wish
you hadn't gone to Atlanta?

It was celebrity journalism
getting started.

Which producers are available?
Which reporters are available?

Get your asses down to Atlanta
now and get the tape.

That's all that mattered.

I think it was
just the perfect storm.

My morals have changed
quite a bit since then,

and I would not have watched
the sex tape today.

8 mark.

And I have to mention,
I was a female at that point.

The tale of the sex tape.

The "Rolling Stone" came out,
and there was a picture

of Jan, Tara, and myself.

We were definitely friends.

It was interesting
because they named me

as one of the two ladies.

Two women,
who at this time are only known

by the names Jan and Tara.

This would be Tara,
and this is Jan,

and we worked together.

The salon was
the Super Hair Three-13

in Marietta, Georgia.

I worked there from '81 to '91.

Jan and Tara
were both assistants,

and it was a New Wave, punk rock
kind of vibe to the salon.

The people at Marietta
are more conservative,

so it was almost like a show,
I think, for them to come in

just to see
what people were wearing.

That was one great thing
about the Super Hair Three-13,

and these kids in Atlanta--

they were the hairdressers
and people who love to play

with their hair
and just be outrageous.

They were just the outcasts.

Everyone was very close-knit.

We all worked together,
played together.

The '80s, what a time.

Shiny clothes and tight pants.

The '80s were, like,
you know, the coke came in.

Whoo!

I swear, like, I think I snorted
in every stall in New York.

The drugs became different
in the '80s--

you know, Quaaludes.

♪ If I could ask you

It was a time of indulgence,

the whole "greed is good."
We out here being fabulous.

Crazy drug use,
and also wild abandon

and perversity and shocking.

♪ Ooh, ooh,
I want to understand you ♪

Growing up in the '80s,
it was like a cultural rebellion

was taking place,
like, all across America,

where people were trying to find
themselves, find their identity.

It was a fearlessness.

♪ And English is
my second language ♪

We would spend a lot of time
at a club called Weekends,

where RuPaul was dancing
on a box on the dance floor.

And then we would go

to Backstreet a lot,
which is a gay club.

♪ Lost in translation

And then there was another club
that was the 24-hour club,

and you know you were in deep
if you went there.

♪ Lost in translation

Sex was all over the place.
The culture was sexual.

People's dress was sexual.

And a lot of sex.
A lot of sex going on.

This is Club Rio,

a popular night spot
here in Atlanta.

Club Rio wasn't a club
that we would frequent

'cause it was more
of a heterosexual scene.

We were there earlier.
We were doing a photo shoot

for the salon, for marketing.

So, obviously we did hair,

and we ended up lingering on
into the early evening,

and that is when
the celebrities came in.

Well, they are young,
rich, and almost famous,

and they are desirable to just
about every female under 20.

They're officially
known as the Brat Pack.

The Brat Pack were
very emblematic of the 1980s.

This was a new breed
of celebrity.

Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez,
Judd Nelson.

They were young. They were rich.
They were white.

They were popular.
They were everywhere.

Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald.

"The Breakfast Club,"
"The Outsiders,"

and the new "St. Elmo's Fire."

We are friends. We're all close.

And in the industry,

it's nice to have your friends
to support you.

And Rob Lowe--he was kind of
starting to be seen

as a person with some chops,

but he was also
the ultimate teen wet dream,

if we can say that.

Rob Lowe was like, everything.

Every girl had a crush on him.

There was,
like, an edginess about him.

He had the blue eyes.
Everybody loved this dude.

to have the prettiest face
of the class of '85.

Celebrities were worshipped
in the '80s.

People see celebrities
as these godlike things

put up on a pedestal.

Celebrity culture was
like a mythology of its own,

because these
weren't people like us.

These--These are people
that were on the television.

It was just this fascination

with people that had managed
to transcend normal human life.

We got a lot of celebrities
here tonight.

One of the big celebrities,
the actor Rob Lowe, is with us--

one who followed Dukakis
all over this country.

I mean, look at Rob Lowe.

In July of 1988, he didn't go
off to Cabo for a weekend.

He went to Atlanta, Georgia,

to the Democratic
National Convention.

- It's democracy. It's spec--
- Absolutely.

It's not a spectator sport.
Everybody should do their part,

whether it's me or you
or Justine.

Everybody should get out
and do what they can.

The night before the beginning
of the Democratic Convention,

Rob Lowe showed up
at this place, the Club Rio.

It was the Studio 54 of Atlanta.

So, if you're a celebrity
from out of town,

we're gonna go
to the hottest club.

And according to the people
who work here,

Rob Lowe made it
a regular hangout

during the convention,

often partying
in these VIP suites behind me

with fellow Brat Packers
Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy.

I first learned
that Rob Lowe was in the club

because I was standing
at the bar,

and Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson
came in and stood beside me.

I had some crazy glasses on,
and he complimented me

on the glasses,
and then I realized,

oh, [bleep], that's, you know,
somebody famous.

Well, they give Rob Lowe
the celebrity treatment.

They brought him
to a special booth.

They put up
a little velvet rope,

gave him some champagne,
and all the women were lined up.

Jan and Tara were waiting
outside of this private area.

He walked by, and someone said,
"Oh, she has to meet you"--

she being Jan.

I think particularly Jan
was excited to meet Rob Lowe

because Tara was a lesbian.

Jan was going
through an experimental stage

with her sexuality at that time,
and I think Tara

was there to provide
that relationship for her

at that time.

The two girls were dying
to meet Rob Lowe,

and I had the opportunity
to introduce them, and...

They were friends of yours?

- Yes, they were.
- So you introduced them?

Yes, I introduced them,
not thinking,

just, you know, starstruck.
They're starstruck.

- I just introduced them.
- And he took a liking to them?

Yes, he did.

So, when they left the club,

they went back
to Rob Lowe's hotel room.

When they arrived
in front of Lowe's hotel,

they emerged unnoticed
amidst the stretch limos.

Rob Lowe had a video recorder.

Rob is a celebrity. Rob is rich.
Rob has the latest technology.

Because Rob was going to do
a documentary

about the Democratic Convention.

The camera that was used
was connected

with a cable like this one
to the TV set in the hotel room

so everybody
could see the action.

Rob Lowe passed out.

And Jan and Tara...
stole the tape...

...and apparently $200
out of his wallet.

That next week at work,

Tara and Jan brought
the tape in

to the owner of our salon.

And said, "We [bleep] Rob Lowe.
We have the tape of it.

We can't watch it. Can you
help us change this tape?"

in American homes right now.

People don't know how
to use them.

He gets some

freelance videographer friend
of his to help,

and they make two copies.

Yeah, I think he was. Yeah.

He could take... things
and put 'em on--on tape.

I didn't know him personally.
I just knew that he did some

recording for us at the salon,

but he was obviously friends
with the owner of the salon.

He gave the tape back to Jan,

who apparently hid it
in her closet.

He may have been the one
who made copies of the tape

for so many people.

And I think this is how

the [bleep] hit the fan,
if you will.

At the salon, we were
definitely watching it

on a television
with the VHS player,

I guess, is what it was,
and it was a small group of us.

We were huddled together
watching the sex tape,

and it was...
it was actually quiet.

We were all, I think, just
watching a little bit in awe.

It was slightly uncomfortable,

only because watching
Jan and Tara

was a little uncomfortable.

Old-timey video recorder.

Most of that segment is

Rob shooting the two women
having sex together.

At some point, you see, like,

his hand coming in
and caressing them.

And then there's one part

where Tara explains on Jan
where her anatomy is.

"This is the [bleep].
This is..." et cetera.

And then they took the recorder
from Rob Lowe,

and they were recording him.

This is crazy.

Is this the camera
that Rob Lowe used?

This is what changed
Rob Lowe's world.

Jan turns to the camera
and kisses it

and says, "This is so much fun,"
and then the camera goes off.

Word spread. People were

talking about, you know,
a Hollywood player

was in big trouble.

I was in my office, and I
got a call from Burt Kearns.

It was May 20, 1989.

I was the managing editor
of "A Current Affair."

Rob Lowe was in a club,
and there's a sex tape,

and we've got to find it,

and we've got to find the girls
that were in the sex tape.

The Rob Lowe sex tape--

Club Rio is projecting this
on the screens.

There were rumors
that they were running this tape

over and over again
to the backdrop of the music.

I don't know how it got leaked.

I feel like somehow,
maybe the one

who made copies of the tape
for so many people

got the tape out there
to Club Rio.

We will never know
until we unearth it

in an archaeological expedition
somewhere.

But nobody ever keeps a secret.
Like, nobody.

There was more than one copy.
This tape was everywhere.

"Get this [bleep] tape.

Get your asses down
to Atlanta now."

Jump on a plane. Get to
Atlanta. I was there that day.

"Do not come back
without this tape.

Get the tape. Get... the... tape."

A reporter shows up in Atlanta.

The producer
shows up in Atlanta.

I was staying
at the Atlanta Hilton

where Rob stayed,
trying to hit up

the housekeeping staff

for any tidbits I could find.

It was a frenzy
to talk to anybody.

The scene was crazy.
There were rowdy bars.

I was in my 20s,

and I was by myself
with a camera crew.

So, I was a little nervous.

Well, I remember finding
this bouncer,

and he was really tied
into the people at Club Rio.

And that's how I found out that
the girls lived in Marietta...

...and that they worked
at a hair salon.

The salon was covered
with reporters outside.

I mean, cameras 24/7

trying to get in the salon
to get an appointment,

just to talk about it,
and it was a real [bleep]show.

The people of Marietta
were more conservative,

so to think that we were part
of something like that,

then we were judged
as Devil worshippers,

and we, you know, sacrificed
goats and drank their blood.

You know,
just really crazy stuff.

It was such a shock
that the tape got out there

and that we were, even though
weren't in the tape personally,

that the tape got out there
and that it was just shocking.

We find out more
that the local Fox station

and "A Current Affair"
was a Fox show, had the tape,

and they were running parts
of it on their local news.

The guy from "Inside Edition"
is also looking for the tape.

This guy happened to be

Geraldo Rivera's
younger brother, Craig Rivera.

Our guys--they said, you know,

"This--this Rivera guy
is right on our case."

I said, "Well, do something
to keep Rivera occupied."

Well, our reporter called Rivera
at his hotel room...

...and said, uh,

"I understand you're looking
for this Rob Lowe sex tape."

"Yes, I am." "Well, um, okay.
Uh, I want $5,000."

"Okay, fine." "Just wait.
I'll deliver it to you."

Craig Rivera
waited in his hotel room.

Yeah, he might...
He might still be there.

Uh, he--he did not get the tape.

We get the tape back.

Monday morning, we know
that we have the exclusive

at "A Current Affair."

We ran it to death.

The full home video
that allegedly stars Rob Lowe

covers a wide range
of activities,

from a batting session
with the Atlanta Braves

to a meeting with Tom Hayden,
and then the tape gets darker.

Jan's mom found the tape that
she had hidden in her closet,

which she probably
shouldn't have done,

because if she knows
anything about being a mother,

they're always gonna snoop
and find your [bleep].

So, her mother found the tape,

and I'm thinking that that's how
this whole lawsuit got started.

An Atlanta mother says he is
the man in a pornographic tape

that involved
her underage daughter.

Could land him in jail
for up to 20 years.

Rob Lowe was now facing,
you know, 20 years in jail.

Rob Lowe denies
that he's the star

of tonight's main story.

An Atlanta mother says he is
the man in pornographic tapes

that involved
her underage daughter.

We knew right away
that Rob Lowe was in trouble

because it was
the district attorney

who announced that
Rob Lowe was now facing,

you know, 20 years in jail.

The age of consent to have sex
in Georgia was 14 at the time,

but the age of consent
to have your sex filmed was 18.

14 is incredibly young.

It's completely insane that
that was the law in 1988.

I don't think a 16-year-old can
consent to sex with an adult.

I don't think they're ready.

I don't think they have
the maturity for it.

The club's position
is she had a fake ID.

Rob Lowe says
that he's done nothing wrong,

and his lawyers asked a judge
in Atlanta today

to throw out a lawsuit
against the young actor.

He felt betrayed. Felt like,
"I was in the [bleep] club.

I met this girl.

She was supposed to be 21.
She certainly acted 21,

and I did what
consenting adults do."

I really don't think
that Rob Lowe had any idea

that he was sleeping
with an underage person.

All week,
everybody's trying to be getting

some comment from you.

Do you have anything to say
to anybody? Nothing at all?

Rob Lowe went into hiding.
He didn't come out

and, you know, give--
give a press conference.

Lowe's been lying low

since that scandal
hit the fans a few months ago.

He didn't take it well.

He stayed in his house
for a good four months.

We went back to Los Angeles,

and my assignment
was to find Rob

and to distract
the other reporters.

So, we found
a Rob Lowe lookalike

and a limousine,

and we had
the limousine pull up,

and we had
the Rob Lowe lookalike

come out of the bushes,

and all the reporters
from all the other shows

just took off
after this limousine.

And meanwhile, we had this tray
of bagels and lox in the car.

So we got onion and egg

and water bagels,
and we got some lox,

the good stuff from Greenblatt's
and cream cheese

and, like, more orange juice
than anyone could ever drink.

And I was just wondering,
'cause I know you're in there,

'cause where else would you go?

Um, will you come out and have
a little picnic with us?

Some other person--

I actually think it might have
been Chris Penn--

opened the door and said,
"What are you doing here?"

"I'm bringing bagels and lox
to Rob.

I wanna know how he feels
about his sex tape."

And, um, I was turned away,

but they took
the bagels and lox.

Actor Rob Lowe
will not go to jail.

Atlanta prosecutors say
they won't charge Lowe because

he has agreed to do 20 hours
of community service.

He will work with disadvantaged
young people in Los Angeles.

So, in the end, there were
no criminal charges.

The civil suit was settled
for an undisclosed amount,

and, um...

that was it.

I never saw
either one of them again.

It was like they disappeared
off the face of the earth.

Uh, they were there one day,

and then both of them
were gone the next.

I never, since then,
have seen either one of them.

No. No.

No idea. Like I said,
here one day, gone the next.

Now, last night, we asked
if you thought all the publicity

surrounding the Rob Lowe case
could harm his career.

And here are
the results of that poll.

Many thousands of phone calls.

34% of you thought
it would harm his career,

while about
twice that number, 66%,

believed it would do no harm
to Rob Lowe's career.

Chin up, Rob.
We'll be back in a minute.

At the time, the "L.A. Times"

interviews an anonymous
Hollywood exec and asked,

"Do you think this is gonna
have an impact on his career?"

And he's, like, "No. You know,
the only way this would

impact his career is if it
had been a gay video."

The idea of him being
perhaps sexually involved

with an adult man,

somebody who was able
to consent,

would be more controversial
and more damning to his career.

I don't think
it hurt his career one bit.

Obviously, he's still
out there doing what he does,

which is a little shocking,
because if it were

in this day and age
and a celebrity was caught

making a sex tape
with a 16-year-old,

I think that it would be
a completely different story.

The sex tape
sent Rob Lowe to rehab.

It led him to rethink his life.
It led him to rethink

the friends
he was hanging out with.

I may be a-a known actor,
and I may be a public figure,

but I'm a human being,
and I hurt,

and I'm embarrassed, and I have
family that didn't ask for this,

and, um, it's been
very, very difficult.

Rob Lowe would not be
the Rob Lowe we know today.

- Yeah.
- It was a big thing at the time,

but you write very eloquently
about it in your--in your book.

It's one of the reasons
why I got sober.

You know, it's like I woke up
one day and was like,

what am I doing with my life?
- And people kind of forgave him.

He settled down,
and he was able to, you know,

move--move on from that
and establish a career.

In the same era, there's a tape

that leaks of Jayne Kennedy,
the actress-journalist,

and her husband having sex.

She was the co-anchor
of "NFL Today."

She was also an actress
on "The Six Million Dollar Man"

and "Sanford and Son,"
and "Starsky & Hutch."

Jayne Kennedy--

not enough people know
her story, and they should.

And a sex tape ruined it all.

I don't know
who Jayne Kennedy is.

No.

No.

Jayne Kennedy--
she worked for CBS?

When the Dallas Cowboys arrived
in New York late yesterday,

CBS had a cassette
of "Too Tall" Jones' bout

ready for them to view.

For a lot of us who are
in sports media now,

Jayne Kennedy--she's the OG.

She was the Halle Berry of
the '70s and '80s but in sports.

She had a national presence
as a Black woman in sports,

especially to be on the NFL's
premier show as a Black woman.

For the next hour,
we're going to preview

the upcoming NFL season.

You'll see the teams to
remember and the ones to forget.

She was one
of the GOATs in media.

Nobody else could get
Muhammad Ali to interview him,

and she got him.

Jayne Kennedy was huge.

But not only was she, you know,
a great broadcaster,

I mean, she was
considered to just be a queen.

Miss Ohio!

Jayne Kennedy was the first
Black Miss Ohio in 1970.

She's from Wickliffe
and is 18 years old.

At 19, I left Ohio, and I said
I wanted to go out

and try the world
of Hollywood.

Jayne Kennedy
was also an actress,

and she was on
"The Six Million Dollar Man"...

- Okay, bye.
- Take care,

-..."Sanford and Son."
- I love you, Lamont.

I love you, Brenda.

...and "Starsky & Hutch."

She definitely was
on "The Love Boat" a lot.

I remember having very warm
feelings towards Jayne Kennedy.

She became the co-anchor
of "NFL Today" in 1978.

With her being the first
Black woman to do that,

it was just sort of like,
okay, this is another

historic milestone in her career
of historic milestones.

Leon Isaac Kennedy
was Jayne Kennedy's husband.

You know, at the time,
it was like he was this big,

kind of tough guy
and good-looking

and was known as being,
like, a big-time actor.

He was a stand-up guy
during this time.

He had a lot
going for him in terms

that he was kind of like
a Sugar Ray Leonard lookalike.

So, they had worked
with each other on the set

of a movie
called "Body and Soul."

If you care anything at all
about me, you wouldn't do this,

because this might be easy
to you,

but it took me a long time
to get you out of my system.

I believe she did win
an NAACP Image Award for.

I guess, for the time,

they were what we call today
relationship goals.

It's like, here you had

this graceful, beautiful,
intelligent,

smart, dynamic woman
with this Hollywood actor.

They were considered
the perfect match.

They were kind of
an "it" couple.

And Black people
were really struggling

for our images in--
in pop culture.

We wanted to own them. We wanted
to feel vested in them.

So, now we--
we finally had somebody.

The school system always said,
you grow up, you be a housewife,

a teacher, or a secretary,

and that's basically it
for young ladies.

And there's so much more
that life has to offer.

Jayne Kennedy is a pioneer,
so it just seemed really strange

that all of a sudden,
she was gone.

It was like Jayne Kennedy
vanished almost,

and I didn't know why.

The first celebrity sex tape
I ever saw

was the Jayne Kennedy sex tape

that was, I guess,
filmed in the late '70s.

The person in the video with her
was Leon Isaac Kennedy,

her husband.

They were a couple.
They were in love.

This was for them, and if you
had a Betamax, you were rich.

So, they obviously had
the equipment. They did it.

It was an intimate moment,
and then it somehow... got out.

I remember I couldn't believe
that this existed.

But you have to understand,

this wasn't something
you could buy legally.

It wasn't something
that was on cable television,

and it was distributed
in the underground,

and I think a friend of mine
showed it to me.

It was very grainy.

So, the story of the sex tape
is kind of opaque.

This was kind of before
we even really had the language

to talk about sex tapes,

but somehow footage of her
and her husband, Leon Kennedy,

having sex leaked.

When this tape came out,

it was all the conversation
in the barbershop.

It was like
the Loch Ness Monster

of sex tapes in terms
of you know somebody

that may have said
that they've seen it,

but they weren't able
to tell you much about it

besides, like, the broad notes.

Back in the '80s, if something
like this comes out,

it's kind of shocking 'cause
we don't know about this,

and this seems
kind of pornography-adjacent.

Even though
you're a married couple.

It's just like, what is
going on here? What is this?

It was such a gross invasion
of her life.

For her to be the one
to pay the price

for something that should have
never happened to her

makes it
that much more sickening.

It did tarnish her image,
and we owed her better.

She was married.
That was her husband.

It wasn't any of our business.

It was really awful
because it--it ruined her image.

I've lost, maybe I'd say,
60% of acting roles

and things like that.

Jayne Kennedy was fired
from CBS really famously

from her sportscasting job,
but that was because

she was doing work
for other people.

But from what I understand,

she had a really hard time
getting work after word spread

that, oh, my God,
this woman has a sexuality.

Can you imagine
this person has sex?

Their sex tape scandal
was considered to be

the origin point
of celebrity sex tapes,

and it had
a devastating impact,

mostly
on Jayne Kennedy's career.

She--She took that brunt.

You don't always wanna be
the first for somethin',

and sadly, that was her.

At that time,
it was not viewed the way

that these things
are viewed now

or even as they came
to be viewed after them.

And I can't say
that they're wrong.

Like, that tape kind of
ruined her professional career,

or at least at the very least,

the perception
in which she was seen.

Jayne Kennedy was so far ahead
of her time,

and to see this beautiful woman
on the sidelines,

you would never think
that they could do that.

The one thing
that has been consistent

about how Black women
are treated is erasure.

And Jayne Kennedy--

she had a couple things
working against her.

The phenomenon of what it was

combined with her being Black
and a woman.

I don't think she had much
of a career after that at all,

which may have had something
to do with gender and race.

Jayne Kennedy
is the perfect example of...

the double standards,

and I just want
there to be one standard.

I would like there to be
fairness.

When it comes to how
those tapes or leaks are viewed,

women are gonna pay
the ultimate penalty,

especially
if you're a Black woman.

Now, Rob Lowe--
he never had to stop doing

the thing that he loved
because he's a man.

And Jayne Kennedy's
not gonna get that grace,

because the penalty is
always harsher for women.

I had worked my butt off
for nearly 10 years

before I even joined
the "NFL Today."

You know
the proverbial three strikes?

Well, strike one, I was a woman.

Strike two, I was Black.

So I really only ever had
one chance, just one,

and I was determined that
I was not going to strike out.

I think it's just really tragic
the way that her story unfolded,

and she's somebody
who we should be giving

a lot of flowers to,

especially if you're
a Black woman,

you're in sports media,
'cause she totally

opened a door
that was not open for us at all.

And so I don't look at her
as somebody that has

anything to be ashamed of.

I look at Jayne Kennedy as--
as a hero.

I was in Washington, D.C.,
a couple of years ago,

and I was
at the Smithsonian Museum

of African American
History and Culture

in the Oprah Winfrey wing,

and they had a picture of me
on the desk at CBS Sports,

and, um,
alongside Nat King Cole,

Diahann Carroll, the Supremes,

and Nichelle Nichols,
Don Cornelius,

and that's when it hit me
that I was living history.

There was an incremental growth,

the video camera as a home item,

and the quality got better
and better and better.

And so the idea that

you're gonna film yourself
having sex,

that idea
became very mainstream.

This is
a sexy, sneaky little guy.

I can definitely imagine
somebody hiding one of these.

I don't think
you could be alive and conscious

without being familiar
with that tape.

The media narrative
was that she wanted

to be doing this,
and this was the only way

that she could be portrayed.

We were told to just
don't ask her about it.

We're gonna
take you to see the tape.

Put a bandana over my head.

I was thrown
in a hatchback of a Honda.

Drugs, paranoid.
She's flipping out.

Everything exploded.

That sex tape became
a financial revolution.

Do scoundrels
do what they want?

If they can
get away with it, sure.

We're a sick society.

And the victims can do nothing.

How do you prepare for
your husband to betray you?

People call it free speech,
when, really, it's abuse.

The trauma it causes
and how it spirals from there.

I just tried to just bury myself
like it wasn't happening.

It's the saddest thing
to feel that way.

How do you get off
of this hamster wheel of hell?

How do you do it?

Uh, okay,
you're gonna name names,

and if I disclose to you that
I know who you're talking about,

I'm disclosing secrets,
so you really shouldn't do that.