Hefner on Lindsay Lohan in Playboy -- The Leak Screwed Us, Releasing Issue EARLY

Hugh Hefner has been screwed by the Internet .. and now the Playboy honcho has announced he's releasing the Lindsay Lohan issue early ... after the entire spread was leaked on the web.

Hef just tweeted, "Because of the interest & the Internet leak, we're releasing the Lindsay Lohan issue early."

As we previously reported, Playboy invested a TON of money into the Lohan edition -- and had printed thousands of extra copies in anticipation of unprecedented demand.