Porn mogul and free speech activist
LOS ANGELES • Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt Jr., the self-described “smut peddler who cares,” who used his pornography empire and flair for the outrageous to push the limits of free speech, has died at the age of 78, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper said Flynt's brother Jimmy Flynt confirmed his death but did not cite a cause. Flynt suffered from a variety of health problems since a 1978 assassination attempt that left him a paraplegic.
Flynt loved to aggravate his critics with stunts such as wearing a diaper made from an American flag to court and was involved in several legal battles.
In the most famous, the U.S. Supreme Court made an important First Amendment ruling in favour of Flynt in a libel battle with evangelist Jerry Falwell.
Flynt had published a fake ad in Hustler that depicted Falwell saying his first sexual encounter had been with his mother in an outhouse. Falwell sued for $50 million and won a lower-court ruling but in 1988 the Supreme Court said the ad was a parody and protected by free speech standards.
In his heyday, Flynt lived a life that could have made Caligula blush. He wrote in his autobiography that his first sexual experience was with a chicken and told of having sex every four or five hours during a workday. After he was paralyzed, Flynt had penile implant surgery so he could continue to have sex.
Flynt created a business with an estimated turnover of $150 million at one point. As magazine circulation slipped, he stayed ahead of trends by investing in adult-oriented television channels, a casino, film distribution and merchandise.
He said he never objected to being labelled a smut peddler as long as he was considered a First Amendment crusader, too.
Born in 1942, Flynt grew up in poverty in Kentucky and Indiana and dropped out of school after the eighth grade. After stints in the armed forces and a General Motors plant, he and his brother opened the Hustler Club in Dayton, Ohio, in 1968. By 1973 it had grown to a string of strip clubs across the state and Flynt put out a newsletter to promote them.
That newsletter evolved into Hustler magazine, his flagship publication, which came to be infamous for featuring explicit photos.
He was married five times and had four surviving children.