“Please take a seat Mr. Flynt”
A shot from a sniper took by surprise a businessman walking towards the Court, where he would do anything to defend his most cherished product: a porn magazine. The man, who was accompanied by his lawyer, survived the incident, but the bullet damaged his spinal cord beyond repair, and he remained paralyzed the rest of his life. Shortly after his recovery, he returned to court to keep fighting for his cause. If a murder attempt hadn’t stopped him, nothing would.
That event only put the man’s determination to the test, and he had passed it. Not only was he fighting to publish images of naked women in “the land of the free”, but also for the right to openly speak his mind. Hence, his allusion to the founding fathers’ speech as expressed in the United States Constitution. The name of this man was Larry Flynt.
Hustler: The American Dream
Flynt was born in a poor family from Kentucky, USA, and had a difficult childhood. His younger sister died from leukemia when she was only four years old. Shortly after, his parents divorced. He spent his teenage years switching between two homes, until one day, he decide to escape and enlist in the army. When he returned to his home, he tried to find a job but was unsuccessful. So he decide to smuggle alcohol in order to make a living. When people started to suspect him, he joined the Navy and made a 4 year service.
Something that would never leave his mind was his search for success and the American Dream.
He was over twenty when he decided to buy a bar and remodel the place. His social and advertising abilities caught the attention of dozens of people, so it wasn’t long before he would start to generate significant profits. This success drove him to buy two more establishments. In less than three years he decided to upgrade his business and open another establishment of highest category: The Hustler Club. This was unlike the others. Its main attraction were the topless dancers who also had the task of serving the guests. By 1968 he created chain establishments in many parts of the country.
Afterwards, he acquired the franchise of a men’s newsletter. In that moment he had a great idea: to create a special bulletin for his guests. At the beginning, the publication was only two pages long, featuring photos of the same women that worked at his establishments. By 1973, it turned into a 32-page magazine.
The first official issue of Hustler was published in 1974, and from then on, it was published every month. At the beginning it had very modest sales, but as time passed, it earned a cult following. Although Playboy was already a hit, Flynt’s publication included more explicit images and was not addressed to a sophisticated readership. In no time, it became one of the most read adult magazines.
The People vs. Larry Flynt
He went from famous to infamous when he published some nude photos of Jacqueline Kennedy that had been taken by a paparazzi. The images created a major scandal and Flynt became a millionaire.
In 1976 he was prosecuted on charges of obscenity and organized crime by the leader of an anti-pornography committee. Although he was given a sentence of seven to twenty five years, he only spent six days in prison. Upon revising the accusations thoroughly, the judge realized he was no culprit of crime, and his case remained faithful to the Constitution’s First Amendment: freedom of expression.
Two years after that, the shooting that left him paralyzed took place. Flynt was on his way to the court to defend his magazine when a white supremacist shot him for publishing images of an interracial couple. From that moment on, he was unable to walk.
Nonetheless, it was another case that earned him recognition as a defender of freedom of speech. After Hustler published a parody ad created by Terry Abrahamson and Mike Salisburyin which televangelist and commentator Jerry Falwell was depicted as an incestuous drunkard, Flynt was sued by the reverend for defamation, invasion of privacy, and emotional damage. After a hard-fought struggle, the case was settled in favor of the businessman. This episode caught the nation’s attention, and Flynt was considered a freedom of speech hero.
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Like Playboy, Hustler is currently trying to survive in the digital era. In their heyday, both were platforms that also made social critique and offered wider perspectives on the United States. Their content wasn’t just based on images of nude women. Flynt exposed the hypocrisy of a whole country while making his own dream come true.
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Sources:
New York Times
Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute.
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Translated by Andrea Valle
