Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis shifts the blame to the young victims

The disgraced videographer Joe Francis of the “Girls Gone Wild” scandal, it was revealed that underage girls were being blamed for bringing down his raunchy and controversial empire.

Giving his first interview in more than a decade, the 51-year-old franchise founder opened up about his experiences during GGW’s heyday and the recent docu-series Girls Gone Wild: The Untold Story, which chronicles Francis’ rise and fall — and where he is today .

For a while, advertising for Francis’ TV series Girls Gone Wild was a staple late night televisionteasing long videos of party girls from around the world capturing it all on camera.

Beginning in 1997, Francis released footage of these women via home video. By 2002, it had amassed over $20 million in sales through 83 different Girls Gone Wild titles.

Almost immediately after its success, Francis and his company began receiving accusations from women who claimed they were intoxicated during filming. Francis was able to dispel some of their claims with footage of them tacitly agreeing and looking sane.

More serious allegations of filming and having sex with minors followed in 2003, leading to Joe Francis being charged with child abuse and prostitution in 2008. already served.

He also received six months of “non-reporting” probation and was banned from filming in Panama City for three years.

Due to mounting legal problems, Francis left the US and moved to Mexico, where he currently resides. He is believed to be living “in exile” in part because of his refusal to appear in court on another warrant issued in 2014.

Speaking to journalist Scaky Cole about the Girls Gone Wild docuseries and the actions that brought him to disgrace, Francis defiantly refused to accept responsibility – primarily in regards to allegations from 2008.

“They were 17 years old, but under 18,” he said, refusing to call the victims “young.”

“(The girls were) the ones who fell victim (‘The Girls Who Gone Wild,'”) Francis continued, paraphrasing Entertainment Weekly.

“We believe they were detained by the Panama City Police and it was all (part of) an operation.” I think it was pretty well put together. I’m in a goddamn snake pit, okay?”

All four victims claim they were underage when they were filmed having sex and posing topless in the Panama City hot spot. They would eventually report Francis to the local police, who would in turn file a RICO case against Francis and the Girls Gone Wild company.

To this day, Francis maintains that he feels no guilt about filming underage women or giving them alcohol to lower their inhibitions.

“I don’t believe they were victims. They became a victim of me,” he repeated.

Joe Francis is currently facing charges related to two separate assault incidents, which also adds to his resistance to repatriation.

The first was made in 2013 after a 2011 incident in which Francis invited three women to his Hollywood mansion in his limousine and then refused to let them out.

After they arrived at his residence, Francis allegedly “(grabbed) one of the women by the throat and hair and (slammed) her head into the tile floor four times.”

He then asked the women not to call the police. He was sentenced to 270 days in jail and ordered to complete an anger management course and a year of mental health counseling.

In 2014, he was arrested again after an altercation at Girls Gone Wild headquarters in Los Angeles.

With the latest incident being a probation violation in the 2011 incident, Francis was facing more serious charges — but because Los Angeles Times notes that he soon flew to Mexico and never returned.

A $500,000 warrant was soon issued for his arrest.

Those interested in learning more about Joe Francis and the history of his brand can stream all three episodes of Girls Gone Wild: The Untold Story” now on Peacock.