Larry Flynt
Larry Flynt was a prominent figure in the adult entertainment industry, best known for founding the pornographic magazine Hustler. He initially transformed a monthly newsletter promoting his chain of Ohio go-go clubs into a national publication in the 1980s. Despite facing significant personal challenges, including being paralyzed from the waist down due to a 1976 assassination attempt and struggling with pain medication addiction, Flynt became a controversial but unwavering advocate for First Amendment rights. His actions included a provocative run for U.S. president and a notorious court appearance where he wore the U.S. flag as a diaper, leading to a prison sentence for flag desecration.
Flynt was involved in landmark legal battles, most notably the Hustler Magazine v. Falwell case, where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor, affirming the protection of satire under free speech. Throughout his career, he faced criticism for the content of Hustler, including allegations of obscenity and the depiction of offensive themes. Nevertheless, he expanded his business to include a film studio and a casino, leaving a complex legacy as both a defender of free speech and a polarizing figure in American culture. Larry Flynt passed away on February 10, 2021, at the age of 78.
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Larry Flynt
- Born: November 1, 1942
- Birthplace: Lakeville, Kentucky
- Died: February 10, 2021
- Place of death: Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California
Flynt outraged religious leaders and critics of pornography because he featured in his magazine, Hustler, more sexually explicit photographs than other mainstream pornographic magazines at that time. Feminists criticized Flynt for including in his magazine graphic acts of violence and demeaning depictions of women.
By the 1980’s, Larry Flynt had transformed the monthly newsletter he used to promote his chain of go-go clubs in Ohio into the nationally known pornographic magazine Hustler. During the decade, however, Flynt suffered from a variety of personal setbacks. A 1976 assassination attempt had left him in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down. He had become addicted to the prescription pain medication he took to control the chronic pain he suffered from his bullet wounds. In 1987, his wife Althea died.
As an unwavering—but outrageous—defender of the First Amendment, Flynt went to extreme lengths to show his contempt for any effort to infringe on his free speech rights. He served more than five months in a federal prison for desecrating the U.S. flag after he appeared at a court hearing wearing the flag as a diaper. As a publicity stunt in 1984, Flynt briefly ran for U.S. president. Flynt also sent a free Hustler subscription to every member of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Flynt’s crusade for the First Amendment also resulted in two appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1983, Flynt hurled obscenities at the U.S. Supreme Court justices after they ruled against him in a libel suit filed by the girlfriend of the publisher of Penthouse magazine, one of Flynt’s competitors. He was arrested for contempt of court, but the charges were later dismissed. In 1988, however, Flynt won an important victory when the Court handed down its landmark Hustler Magazine v. Falwell decision. Jerry Falwell, a nationally known televangelist from Lynchburg, Virginia, had sued Flynt for libel over a satirical advertisement published in Hustler that portrayed the minister as an incestuous drunk. The case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, which decided in Flynt’s favor, ruling that, regardless of how tasteless the speech may be, humor and satire are protected by the First Amendment.
Flynt faced other legal issues over the years, including charges for obscenity-related offences in 1998; he pleaded guilty to two counts of pandering obscenity. He also received criticism for featuring pictures and comics that depicted child molestation, rape, or had racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic themes in Hustler.
Despite that, Flynt successfully produced pornographic movies through the Hustler Video film studio beginning in 1998—the studio purchased VCA Pictures in 2003—and opened the Hustler Casino in 2000. Flynt died on February 10, 2021, from heart failure at the age of seventy-eight.
Impact
Larry Flynt was described as a vanguard defender of the First Amendment by his supporters and as an attention-grabbing smut peddler by his critics. His tenacity in fighting for his free speech rights, however, resulted in Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, a decision that has been hailed as an important First Amendment victory not only for Larry Flynt but for the mainstream media as well.
Bibliography
Flynt, Larry. Sex, Lies, and Politics: The Naked Truth. Kensington, 2004.
Flynt, Larry, and Kenneth Ross. An Unseemly Man: My Life as a Pornographer, Pundit, and Social Outcast. Dove Books, 1996.
McFadden, Robert D. "Larry Flynt, Who Built a Porn Empire With Hustler, Dies at 78." The New York Times, 20 Feb. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/business/media/larry-flynt-dead-hustler-magazine.html. Accessed 29 Apr. 2021.
Smolla, Rodney A. Jerry Falwell v. Larry Flynt: The First Amendment on Trial. St. Martin’s Press, 1988.