Larry Flynt, 1942-2021: The Man Who Sold Sex and Got a Bullet | Interview | Woody Harrelson | The people vs. Larry Flynt | APTZ | LIGHTS

But many years ago when those anatomical parts weren’t protagonists, there was a stomach. And a very hungry stomach. It was a modest little house in a Kentucky town – no chicken, secret recipe, or extra crunchy – the place where Larry Claxton Flynt Jr. was born in 1942, by the time he turned 22, he had already been in the military. Marine. He later opened a strip club that became a chain, and in 1974 founded a magazine that, along with Playboy and Penthouse, would become a benchmark for eroticism and sex on paper. That same kid who made his first money selling artisanal liquor is the man who had sales of $ 150 million a year until less than 10 years ago and whose magazine will live on after his own life. The same man who was able to challenge – in court and in public – an American society that was about to crucify him. They failed, but in return he had a seizure that left him bedridden forever. Anything, for including an interracial sex scene in his magazine. But he went on thinking that his ideas would fly from the waist and that life would roll from the waist. After all, Flint was a Rolling Stone, in its own way: (I can’t take no) Satisfaction could star in the soundtrack of his life, and always had “Sympathy for the devil” in some way. That, of course, despite the fact that for several years he “accepted Christ” through the intervention of his friend Ruth, the evangelical sister of former US President Jimmy Carter.

While Hustler got off to a good start, it was with the publication of some photos of Jacqueline Onassis (formerly Kennedy) naked on a Greek island – not inns, but taken by a paparazzi – that the magazine boomed, and about 3 million copies each month. Then in the 1970s came several disputes with the most conservative sides of American society, and dozens of allegations and lawsuits for obscenity against which he raised the First Amendment to his constitution in defense, claiming freedom of speech. used to be. his most naked style. The same freedom of speech with which he published an advertisement in which, supposedly, the then-beloved and famous pastor Jerry Falwell stated that his first sexual relationship with his mother was in a latrine and that he taught his followers completely drunk. Ave Maria! The ordeal they faced is one of the main axes of the initially mentioned Milos Forman movie.

Larry Flynt, a character who loved to be obnoxious, flawed, and unapologetic with the law and the establishment, suddenly became the champion of freedom of speech in a country ruled by Reagan’s conservatism. A strange kind of superhero, a porn man in Erotic City. A few years ago, when his magazine had been published continuously for more than four decades, the author of this text was interviewed by Flynt, taking the opportunity to review his life.

Because we are dust, and from dust we come: the formation of an empire

It’s been over 40 years since you founded Hustler. How do you see the change in the world’s attitudes towards sexuality since then?

We’ve moved from a world where someone like me can be charged with taking a photo in the middle of a sexual act, to a world where anything and everything can be seen at the click of a mouse. It’s a more open and robust world.

What has changed in your own mind since then?

Nothing has changed in my mind. I am still the same sex dealer as before. I’ve only gotten more famous than when I started.

Why was Hustler a phenomenon?

Hustler was insulting, even to the point of iconoclast. We meant to be offensive. We have always pushed the boundaries and that has only driven the brand over the years. Be it political, religious or satirical, Hustler has always had something to say and he has said it with great pride and insult. It’s what we build our reputation on and what our loyal readers love.

What is your best memory of the magazine’s early years?

The early days of the club (the comics salon) are my fondest memories, along with the early years of Hustler and his creation.

Thousands of magazines about nudity have appeared throughout history. What’s the secret that makes Hustler so popular to this day?

Our gall and willingness to post things that no one else would dare. Whether it’s scandalous celebrity photos, bathroom humor (body function comics), and our relentless and successful political satire, Hustler was always relevant and always insulting.

Sex and power

What do you think today of the first amendment to the US Constitution? Will you keep defending her to the death?

The First Amendment gives me the right to be offensive. If you don’t offend someone, you don’t need the first change. I don’t have time to deal with the urge of people who can’t control themselves. I’m in the casino business and all the time we have people who say we should help with the gambling problem. I say, “Why? I don’t have time to deal with people’s problems.” I think it’s very clear that I’m going to defend her to death, since I almost died there one time.

What relationship do you think sex has with power today? I remember you published the book One Nation Under Sex in 2011 about the sexual adventures of several US presidents …

Sex and power have always been intertwined, sometimes for the better, but especially for the worse. I think sex infects a politician these days and generally diverts attention from an important topic. Is it really that awful for a politician to be an unfaithful husband while doing his job? If you want to attack someone for his or her indiscretion, make sure your story is pure and impeccable.

What prompted you to study this subject with such passion?

For nearly three decades I have been drawing attention to political figures in their hypocritical lies. If these guys keep doing it these days, those who made America certainly had similar skeletons in their closets. Don’t get it wrong. I am the first to defend an unfaithful president, but I think discretion should play an important role. After all, I am responsible for the resignation of ‘Bobo’ Livingstone. It’s amazing what a million dollar reward can do. (Note: In 1998, Flynt offered up to $ 1 million to any source for verifiable information about embarrassing sexual stories involving congressmen or senior government officials. Republican Livingstone resigned from the House of Representatives, knowing he had been discovered

Truth or risk

How true is the Larry Flynt that Woody Harrelson did in the Milos Forman movie? How did you work together to create the character?

Woody was great. He plays me better than me. We spent a lot of time together preparing to shoot the movie.

What qualities did you shape growing up in Kentucky, one of the poorest places in America at the time?

In the beginning, especially when growing up in poverty, he knew he wanted to get rich. I thought having money was like being happy. As I have grown older I have found that this is not the case. Yes, money helps, but it’s about much more than that.

Which famous woman would you like to have on the pages of your magazine?

I’d like to see Jennifer Aniston at Hustler. It’s so beautiful and so accessible. We’ve made so many offers to famous women to appear in our magazine that I can’t keep up. We offered (through their agents) a few million to pose. They never accepted it.

Is it true that you were friends with the Pastor Jerry Falwell after the trial they faced and even before his death?

Yes it’s true. When Falwell and I appeared on Larry King Live after the movie was released, he greeted me with a hug. It was one of the strangest moments of my life. It was the first time we’d been in a room together since the trial. From that moment on, our relationship changed and we traveled across the country to discuss the First Amendment. He came to visit me when I was in California. We discussed politics and philosophy and exchanged Christmas cards. The truth is, the Pastor and I have a lot in common. We are both from the south, with very poor backgrounds. The more I got to know Falwell, the more I realized that his public persona was a maximized caricature of himself. We both knew he was selling and we found a way to communicate. In the end, I’m sure I never changed his ideas and he never changed mine; But if I can say one thing, we were friends.

You once said Kennedy was a great inspiration to you. How did JFK inspire you and what other politician has that?

My role models growing up were politicians and world leaders instead of actors. When President Kennedy spoke, my skin was crawling. The man had a way of expressing himself that few could match. I thought he was a great and profound man. I see a lot of what made President Kennedy special in President Barack Obama.

What is your current relationship with religion and God?

I have had a very deep religious experience once. Most people, once they have experienced a rebirth, cannot find someone to talk to. They don’t go to the doctor because they don’t want to be seen as mentally ill. All they can do is talk to a family member and they are referred to church. That way they get involved in religion. I immediately looked for psychiatrists. My psychiatrist just told me they didn’t know anything about the brain, just like neurosurgeons. He told me about correlations between certain sites with large iodine deposits and manic-depressive disorder. This is believed to be due to a lack of iodine in the diet. It’s all about the salt. It’s not how I think now. I’ve been on medication ever since and never had those thoughts again. I believe religion has done more damage than other ideas since the dawn of time. Every war has been fought for religion. When so many people have died, something is wrong.

If you were given a second chance at life, would you do everything the same way?

No. I was supposed to wear a bulletproof vest to go to my Lawrenceville, Georgia trial.

How do you think you will be remembered after you die?

Well, we have to see what happens in the rest of my life! I do not plan to retire anytime soon. There are still a lot of people to fuck (laughs). After I die, I don’t want to say much about me. Just bury me and write my name on the headstone. If I have a legacy to leave behind, I want to have fought for the parameters of freedom of speech.

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