Former prostitutes protest 'Players Ball'

Community activists, former prostitutes and elected officials protested Saturday outside the 30th annual "Players Ball Convention" outside Chicago.

It was billed as a birthday party where "pimps and players" could show off their flashiest suits and gold chains, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The party, held this year in a suburban banquet hall, was hosted by Bishop Don Magic Juan, the self-proclaimed "king of the pimps" often seen in the company of rapper Snoop Dogg.

Juan, once a notorious pimp on Chicago's West Side, says he hung up his pimp "game" in 1985, found Jesus and is a preacher who ministers "to the outcasts of society", the Chicago Tribune said.

But the politicians, activists and Maywood residents who gathered outside Mariella's Banquet Hall said the event was nothing more than a glorification of prostitution and the exploitation of women.

"It gives out a message to our young that it is cool. It ain't cool," Brenda M., a former prostitute, told reporters. "It's not glamorous. It's not cute."

A spokesman for the banquet hall said the management was not aware of the party's theme when an associate of "The Bishop" made the reservation last year.

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