[1] The idea stemmed from a scene in the 1973 blaxploitation film The Mack[2] in which the lead character, a pimp named Goldie, attends The Players Ball in Oakland, California.
[3] Keenen Ivory Wayans satirized the ball in his 1988 film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, in which blaxploitation icon Antonio Fargas plays a character who is crowned "Pimp of the Year" after winning a Miss America-style pageant.
"[10] In 2005, a survivor identifying herself as "Brenda Myers-Powell" protested the Players Ball event at Mariella's Banquet Hall on 5th Avenue in Maywood, Illinois.
Brenda called the event a "ball for child molesters" because she began being trafficked by pimps at the age of 14 and says her experience is a common one.
[12] A well-known non-pimp Players Ball,[13] started in 1999, was thrown in Las Vegas and New Orleans as a private party for businesses attending adult-oriented events.
In 2011, the annual Memphis Players Ball was also attended by Bishop Don Magic Juan, Good Game, MattShizzle, Candyman, The Black Heff and others.