Tampa free speech icon Joe Redner has passed away at the age of 86, his family confirmed.

Joy Lynn Redner, one of Redner’s children, announced his death on Facebook last night. “We love you. You will be missed Dad. Joe Redner passed away this morning. He died peacefully in his sleep,” she wrote.

Originally from New Jersey, the strip club mogul moved to Tampa when he was 8-years-old and attended Chamberlain High School, though he never graduated.

Before becoming the “Strip Club King,” Redner worked a number of odd jobs around Tampa Bay, including pouring terrazzo floors, selling furniture at Levitz, and he was even a traveling carnie.

He got his start in clubs managing a ’70s go-go bar called the Deep South, which at the time was located on Hillsborough and Rome avenues. In 1976, Redner opened the Night Gallery, a strip club on Hillsborough, along with his business partner, who happened to be a bail bondsman.

“The cops’d come in, arrest eight or 10 people and we’d bond them out,” Redner said to Creative Loafing in 2003. “They’d do that three, four times a day. It was war.”

In the early-80s, Redner opened Tanga Lounge, then Mons Venus in 1981, along with a number of other clubs like Bare Elegance in 1989, which was opened in Citrus County without a license and resulted in Redner spending 57 days in jail. While in the clink, Redner earned his GED.

Mon Venus was arguably his flagship club, which he sold in 2025 to 2001 Odyssey. However, Redner maintained ownership of the land and acted as the business’s landlord.

Redner was often embroiled in controversy and legal battles, like fighting to have fully nude dancers in Tampa clubs, rallying against “protest zones” that politicians would use to herd dissidents away from public appearances, as well as advocating for medical marijuana rights and LGBTQ Pride events.

Redner was also a familiar face in local politics, running for multiple offices and famously sparring with then-Tampa city council member and current candidate for mayor Bob Buckhorn over “the six foot rule,” which for a while kept strippers and customers six feet apart.

“You need people like him to make the process work,” said Luke Lirot, Redner’s first amendment attorney. “If everyone gets trod upon and accepts it, eventually society as a whole suffers. When one person will stand up against oppression, and do so with Redner’s ferocity and dedication, then everyone benefits. Government is less inclined to be abusive of people’s rights than they would be otherwise.”

When asked by CL about his constant struggles with the courts and fighting for the public good, Redner replied: “I’m happy fighting, I feel like I’m accomplishing something for society.”

Redner was also a cannabis crusader who aggressively fought for the right for medical patients to grow their own, saying medical marijuana helped him beat the stage four lung cancer he was diagnosed with in 2011. Redner took his fight all the way to the Florida Supreme court where, in 2019, judges declined to review his case against the state. In 2024, when voters had a chance to legalize the recreational use of pot, Redner’s response to the proposal was simple: “It’s not the government’s business.”

Throughout Saturday on social media, tributes poured in from Tampeño elected officials, activists, and more of his family members.

“Thank you, dad. You were always there for me and you taught me so much about what it really means to be a man and a good person. I truly thought we would have you for years to come and I am struggling to imagine a world without you in it,” Joey Redner, founder of Cigar City Brewing, wrote. “I love you, dad.”

Tampa City Councilman and mayoral candidate Bill Carlson mentioned that many people knew Redner for “one business,” but that his “brilliant legal mind” helped shape a lot of political thought.

“Joe Redner was a tireless advocate for the community,” Carlson wrote. “His passion for people and fight for justice will be terribly missed.”

Attorney Gretchen Cothron noted Redner’s support for the local ACLU and nonprofits, while Jack Crocetto, and LGBTQ rights activist revisited Redner’s work to combat anti-gay rhetoric and anti-choice legislation from then Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms. “The man was an endless ball of piss and vinegar and did a lot of good for good causes,” Crocetto added.

Phil Compton, from the Friends of the Hillsborough River, noted how about 25 years ago Redner pitched in with $500 (“quite a bit back then!”) to help his nonprofit in a legal fight with the City of Tampa and Southwest Florida Water Management District (AKA “SWIFTMUD”).

“We knew Joe Redner was a generous contributor to progressive causes, so we met with him. Joe lived on the river and instantly understood,” Compton added.” When we settled our challenge on the minimum flow out of court our attorney waived his fees and we gave Joe his money back, but we never forgot his generosity and community spirit. RIP to a true Friend of the Hillsborough River.”

Criminal defense attorney Shelley Reback remembered arriving from New York while Redner was in a fight with the city over lap dances. She joined the Florida ACLU board and remembered how Redner—who had a show on what is now the state’s only public access channel TBCN—was always ready with a check to support.

“In every local fight for human rights, equality and justice, you would find Joe. I will miss having Joe with us for all the “good fights” ahead,” Reback wrote. “Joe was an atheist, so I don’t offer prayers. Just rest in peace and power, Joe.”

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UPDATED 10/19/26 11:10 a.m. Updated with comments and tributes from locals.

This article appears in Oct. 15 – 21, 2026.