"Playboy" Profiles Jeremy Corbell and the For-Profit Mysteries of Ufology

Playboy magazine ran a feature profiling a day in the life of Jeremy Corbell, following the UFO podcaster at the Contact in the Desert paranormal gathering. Reporter Mattha Busby captures the tawdry side of ufology, from UFO show host Ben Hansen selling $720 binoculars to UFO buffs during a for-profit UFO hunt that brought in an estimated $10,000, to what Busby implied was Corbell's narcissistic and controlling personality. Busby correctly identifies ufology as an incipient religion, and UFO celebrities, as depicted in the piece, ride the line between wannabe saviors basking in the adoration of their fans and paranoid grifters scamming every last dollar from revelations they have no intention of delivering. 

The piece left Corbell enraged, and he demanded an apology because Busby confused statements from two alleged UFO witnesses, attributing them to the wrong witness. Corbell then used that opening to attack the article as a hit piece that failed to pay sufficient homage and respect to ufology and ufologists, especially, say, Jeremy Corbell.

I invite you to read the piece in full, but there are a few highlights worth pointing out:

• Corbell is now proudly an ancient astronaut theorist: “I suspect that there’s a technologically advanced civilization that has been in contact with humanity since the beginning of recorded human history,” he said at Contact in the Desert.
• Corbell seems to reveal some Freudian reasons for his deference to the US government as the sole path to Truth, calling the government "Daddy."
• Corbell has a large contingent of female fans in an otherwise male-dominated field, and they seem to be sexually attracted to him.
• Corbell is apparently obsessed with his press and tries to alternately charm or intimidate reporters into writing only positive things about him.
• Everything in ufology comes with a fee attached. It's all about the Benjamins.