Larry Flynt
Proving that the American Dream can come true with enough drive and determination, Larry Flynt rose from the impoverished Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky to establish the most powerful brand in adult entertainment and one of the most popular consumer brands in the world.
After serving time in the Navy, Flynt bought a local bar and transformed it into a successful strip club. Within a year he expanded business, opening similar clubs which quickly gained loyal customers and influenced Flynt to send out a short newsletter about upcoming events to his growing clientele. Always challenging the status quo and distinct for his nontraditional approach, Flynt set out to launch his own men's magazine.
Using his newsletter as a template, he nationally released the first issue of Hustler magazine in 1974. Geared toward working-class men, Hustler's content was implicitly anti-establishment and class antagonistic. One issue featured nude pictures of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. From the first day Hustler hit the newsstands, Flynt challenged America's interpretation of the First Amendment and Flynt's style was showcased in a series of closely watched lawsuits that pitted freedom of speech against pornography.
In May of 1976, Flynt was indicted on several counts of pandering obscenity and organized crime. The case suggested that individual communities had the right to define obscenity. Initially, he was convicted and sentenced to 7-25 years in prison. However, the ruling was later overturned. Two years later, in March 1978, Flynt was paralyzed from the waist down due to injuries sustained in an assassination attempt outside a Georgia courtroom.
In the fall of 1983, Flynt again challenged the U.S. government when he threatened to publicize surveillance tapes that were potentially embarrassing to the FBI. When he refused to reveal the source of the tapes the courts fined him $10,000 a day. In a display of defiance, Flynt delivered his fine wearing a diaper made out of the American flag. He was tried and convicted for desecration of the flag, and spent six months in a federal prison.
In November 1983, Reverend Jerry Falwell sued him for publishing a satirical cartoon, which implied that Falwell had an incestuous affair with his mother. The televangelist filed a libel suit for $45 million with the additional charge of intent to inflict emotional distress. Six months later, a jury found Flynt innocent of libel but awarded Falwell $200,000. Unsatisfied with the Falwell decision, Flynt appealed the ruling, which was unanimously overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988. The verdict was considered a landmark decision because it constitutionally protected offensive speech aimed at public figures.
In 1996, Flynt re-emerged as the subject of a major motion picture, The People vs. Larry Flynt, starring Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love and Edward Norton. Directed by Milos Foreman, the feature focused on Flynt's career-long battle against censorship, portraying him as a charismatic champion of free speech and a civil liberties advocate. That same year, he wrote an autobiography, An Unseemly Man: My Life as a Pornographer, Pundit, and Social Outcast, which candidly documented how he built an entertainment enterprise out of the most violent and shockingly graphic mass circulation magazine in America.
To date, LFP publishes over 30 titles, including Hustler magazine and creates content for distribution via broadcast, websites and mobile platforms. Other ventures either wholly owned by or licensed by Flynt or LFP, Inc. include the Hustler Clubs and Hustler Hollywood Stores and Hustler Apparel, DVD production and Hustler Novelties divisions as well as the Hustler Casino located in Gardena, California.
Flynt currently lives in Beverly Hills with his wife, Liz Berrios, whom he married in 1998. He has four daughters and a son.
Throw The Bastards In Jail!
November 9th, 2010Unless the CEOs of companies that have devastated this country are held personally responsible for their actions, nothing is going to change.
Larry Flynt on Rand Paul
September 7th, 2010Rand Paul is the kind of libertarian who will always side with Big Business over labor.
Larry Flynt: Is It Time For A Revolution?
July 27th, 2010When the government turns against the people, it is time for the people to turn against their government. So you must ask yourself: Is the government of the United States of America representing you? Or is it representing the corporations that fund the politicians’ election campaigns? To date, the government has taken your money to [...]
Larry Flynt: Legalize Marijuana!
July 27th, 2010This November, California voters will find a ballot initiative calling for the legalization of marijuana. If it passes, California will become the first state in the Union to make pot legal. In my opinion, marijuana should never have been outlawed in the first place. California prisons are already choked with people convicted of marijuana-related crimes. [...]
Larry Flynt: A Message To The Tea Party Movement
July 1st, 2010You have a reason to be angry. You are being screwed. The bankers get bailed out, but the working class is left to fend for itself at a time when jobs are hard to find. But your anger is misdirected. You are being lied to. It’s the corporations that have brought this about. They have [...]
Larry Flynt: Is Democracy Dead?
June 1st, 2010The U.S. Supreme Court decision of January 21, 2010 (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ), allowing corporations to spend endless amounts of money influencing our elections, will change America forever. The election process, already awash in money from the fat cats, will now be swamped by corporate propaganda favoring their chosen candidate. In comparison, [...]
Larry Flynt: Is Democracy Dead?
May 17th, 2010The U.S. Supreme Court decision of January 21, 2010 (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ), allowing corporations to spend endless amounts of money influencing our elections, will change America forever. The election process, already awash in money from the fat cats, will now be swamped by corporate propaganda favoring their chosen candidate. In comparison, [...]
Larry Flynt: Obama's Biggest Problem
May 14th, 2010BARACK OBAMA’S BIGGEST PROBLEM We all know President Obama is a great campaigner. His eloquent and inspirational speeches, along with his easy grace, are what propelled him into office. The speeches were, in fact, so well delivered, it was easy to overlook that they were of little substance. Obama’s biggest problem today is that he’s [...]
Larry Flynt: Who Rules America?
May 1st, 2010Over the past year it has become more than apparent that our government is being held hostage by a small group of incredibly powerful people: Wall Street, multinational corporations and the military-industrial complex. How else can you explain President Obama’s complete betrayal of his campaign pledges? He’s sold out real healthcare reform, escalated America’s wars, [...]
Larry Flynt: Campaign Finance Reform
April 1st, 2010There’s only one way to eliminate the corruption that has cast its dark shadow over America’s political system: We must eliminate campaign contributions, which have turned our congressmen and senators into puppets of Big Business. That means the government, using taxpayer dollars, would finance each candidate’s campaign. Only then will we be able to return [...]
Larry Flynt: Looking For Heroes
March 1st, 2010America is obsessed with heroes. The Old West had Bat Masterson and Wild Bill Hickok. Later came President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, General George S. Patton, President John F. Kennedy, astronaut Neil Armstrong and, most recently, airline pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger. Heroes are resilient, unflappable and, most of all, masculine. If someone doesn’t appear to be [...]
Larry Flynt: We The People? God Help Up!
January 1st, 2010Who are these nutjobs? I’m talking about those American citizens who have shown up at town hall meetings, including gatherings with the President of the United States in attendance, packing guns. And not just handguns—although that would be bad enough—but semiautomatic rifles as well. We all agree that Americans should have free speech, due process [...]
Larry Flynt: Bitch-Slap the Republicans
December 31st, 2009President Obama: You have proven to be a great campaigner. You have yet to demonstrate your ability to govern. Who needs the Republicans? They don’t know what compromise is. They’re just out to derail your Presidency. Bitch-slap ’em at every opportunity and put them in their place. They lost; you didn’t. As for disloyal Democrats, [...]
Larry Flynt: Obama vs FDR
August 1st, 2009President Obama must take a lesson from Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Larry Flynt: What’s Wrong With The Republican Party
July 1st, 2009These days, all that Republicans do is blurt out angry sound bites about President Obama and the Democrats. Their position on a given issue changes from moment to moment. All that matters to them is how they can sabotage this administration. As Rush Limbaugh admitted, they just want Obama to fail. It doesn’t matter to [...]
