Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
A crude baron wheelc unlikely of pres E, brash porn in a golden hair.. and an y champion ss freedom
Hustler founder Lar Rry Flynt dies at the age of 78
As a teenager living in poverty, he sold moonshine whiskey to help his mum pay the bills. His inclination to shock and love of outrageous risks endured as he later created a £300million empire built on smut.
Hustler magazine tycoon Larry Flynt, who has died aged 78, was the Devil incarnate to some.
But to others he was a crusader, championing press freedom while battling obscenity and libel charges.
All while dealing in the guilty secrets of armies of men.
His eye-catching life proved too much for Hollywood to ignore.
Woody Harrelson played the porn peddler in controversial 1996 biopic The People vs Larry Flynt.
Flynt died at his multimillion-dollar home in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles – a long way from his poverty-stricken youth. He once explained his success by saying: “Playboy and Penthouse were parading their pornography as art, with the airbrushing and the soft lens.
“I realised if we became more explicit, we could get a huge piece of this market. I sensed raw sex was what men wanted. And I was right.” But it took a clean cut icon to give him his big break – America’s former First Lady, Jackie Onassis.
After Flynt launched Hustler in 1974, it sold just a few thousand copies despite its erotic content.
But when he acquired totally nude photos of Onassis on a beach, sales of the mag soared to two million.
Flynt soon took levels of his porn to new heights, outraging some campaigners because of the images of women being so hard core.
He was shot in 1978 by white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin, a serial killer who wanted to murder Flynt because Hustler showed images of interracial sex.
Flynt was left paralysed from the waist down and could not walk again.
In typical flamboyant style, he spent £62,000 on having a custom made, goldplated and velvet-lined wheelchair.
Repeatedly sued, prosecuted, jailed for contempt and gagged for obscene outbursts in court, he loved being one of the most notorious people in the US.
He profited while the nation was in the throes of a sexual revolution in the 1970s, and he continued to produce porn for four decades.
Not all the articles were about sex, some were political exposés. A constant target of libel claims, he was as famous
for his outrageous courtroom antics as for the obscenity trials he took centre stage in during the 70s and 80s.
He once appeared in court wearing a nappy made from a US flag, and another time threw orange peel at judges.
His most significant legal victory was against TV evangelist Reverend Jerry Falwell who sued for £32.5million for libel and emotional distress in 1983.
The long-running case was brought because Hustler published a parody, depicting Falwell talking about a sexual encounter with his own mother.
A jury rejected the libel charge, saying the parody was not factual but awarded Falwell £145,000 for emotional distress.
In 1988, the Supreme Court threw out the damages, calling the parody constitutionally protected satire. Such victories
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Playboy was parading porn as art. I sensed raw sex was what men wanted. I was right LARRY FLYNT ON DECISION TO MAKE HUSTLER MORE EXPLICIT THAN RIVALS
rton in The People vs Larry Flynt. Right, Norton & Harrelson
de Flynt an unlikely First Amendment mpion and a self-appointed arbior of political hypocrisy. the 90s he took out a full-page ad in Washington Post, offering $1m to one who could prove to have had an amarital affair with a high-profile tician or government official. Weeks before the 2016 presidential tion, he offered $1m to anyone who d produce footage of Donald Trump aged in illegal activity or in a sexually meaning or derogatory manner”. No came forward. year later, he upped the offer to m for dirt that might lead to Presit Trump being impeached. ynt was born in the US state of tucky in 1942. His parents divorced n he was young. Times were so hard
where he grew up he later joked the “main industry was jury duty”.
He dropped out of school aged 15 before doctoring his birth certificate to join the military.
After two years in the army, he switched to the navy, serving four more years before leaving at 21.
After working in a factory in Ohio he managed to save enough money to buy a topless bar. The business was so successful he acquired seven more.
He formed the Hustler Club, appealing to those blue-collar workers unable to afford rival Playboy Club prices.
As he built his empire, his life took an unexpected turn in 1977.
After becoming friends with Ruth Carter Stapleton – the evangelical sister of the then President Jimmy Carter –
Flynt converted to Christianity and vowed celibacy.
He later became a born-again Christian who said he “hustled” for the Lord.
Naked women were removed from the cover of Hustler and instead, the mag ran illustrated versions of salacious Bible stories. The circulation tumbled.
His then wife Althea, who had been a dancer at one of the Hustler clubs, was furious with her husband’s new publishing philosophy, and later joked: “God may have walked into his life, but $20million walked out.”
A fair few walked out of cinemas in anger during screenings of The People vs Larry Flynt, which also featured Courtney Love and Edward Norton.
Harrelson’s affectionate portrayal of Flynt as a pornographer with a higher purpose as a defender of free speech left some people outraged.
Opponents said he was far from the likeable rogue shown on screen and that he revelled in degrading women.
Harrelson was nominated for an Oscar for the role.
One of Hustler’s most infamous covers featured a photo illustration of a woman being fed headfirst into a meat grinder. Feminist Gloria Steinem was among
TARGET
TV evangelist Rev Jerry Falwell
CRITIC
Gloria Steinem slammed Flynt those who criticised Flynt, saying: “A pornographer is not a hero, no more than a publisher of Ku Klux Klan books or a Nazi on the internet, no matter what constitutional protection he secures. And Flynt didn’t secure much.”
Flynt, whose Hustler Hollywood sex shops were opened in Britain, continued to be a provocateur as a publisher.
In 2017, he returned to his controversial ways with a cover featuring a woman wearing a hijab fashioned from a US flag with her breasts exposed. Amid the anger, Flynt said: “We won’t be silent, we won’t be average, we won’t be ‘normal’.”
His life was anything but normal. He is survived by his fifth wife, Elizabeth Berrios, and four children.
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