I didn’t know Miles Davis worked as a pimp, but in this thread they mention that he did.
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21432361&postcount=2
Which got me thinking. What other celebrities have worked as pimps?
Ice T, Rick James, James Lipton. Anyone else?
iceberg slim
After leaving the Marine Corps, R. Lee Ermey bought “a run-down bar and whorehouse in Okinawa.” Apparently, the Japanese authorities took a dim view of the enterprise, and he had to relocate to the Philippines.
Wait, what? The “Actor’s Studio” guy? Holy crap! :eek:
James Lipton???
I know Richard Pryor grew up in a brothel, but I don’t think he ran the place.
I’m guessing R Kelly was sort of running a brothel…for himself.
About James Lipton:
There is a list of famous pimps in this Wikipedia entry, but I don’t know which of them are famous for something else:
Dennis Hoff, but that really strains the definition of “Celebrity”.
How 'bout Hugh Hefner? Larry Flint? Bob ‘Whatzisname’?
Malcolm X (early in his life when he was still Malcolm Little)
Snoop D O Double G
The OP mentioned Ice T - I knew he had been a pimp but the reality didn’t hit me until my friend sent me a clip of his interview from Pimps Up, Ho’s Down. Holy shit, when he starts casually talking about breaking a girl, it’s a real pimp smack from reality. Try watching SVU the same way after that!
James Lipton wasn’t a pimp in the way most Americans would think. In order to pay for living in Paris he worked for prostitutes. They did not work for him. He shilled for them in the street and brought business to the women.
For those that remember the “Rich white man adopts two black boys" sitcom Diff’rent Stokes, Todd Bridges (who portrayed the older boy Willis - as in What’chu talking’ ‘bout, Willis?) did some pimping after the show ended.
TCMF-2L
Charles Mingus
Jelly Roll Morton
Gatopescado, how do you figure that Hefner, Flint, and Guccione were pimps? They published skin magazines. That’s not the same as renting women out for sex.
And they paid for his help. That’s pimping without the hat, cane, and Cadillac.
Tiffany Haddish, though it’s not clear whether she was joking or not.
I knew he had a serious drug addiction for many years; was that how he financed it?
What about the clear high-heeled platform shoes with goldfish swimming in the heels?
Dealing drugs was his main criminal activity although he was involved in violence, firearms offences and even accused of murder although OJ Simpson’s lawyer made sure the charges didn’t stick.
The pimping came about when he decided if he used females to sell drugs they could offer sex as well. More lucrative.
TCMF-2L