Larry Flynt waged many First Amendment wars — and not just in defense of porn
A conservative radio host in Philadelphia had shared the university president’s contacts, encouraging listeners to bombard Penn State’s leadership. A religious group had sent its flock the email address for the college of communication’s dean. A state legislator had joined in stoking the outrage, even threatening the university’s funding over the Flynt visit and other campus events he found unseemly.
An associate dean in the college of communications at the time, Richards found himself fielding complaints from angry faculty, which he didn’t understand. He assured them Flynt was not coming to campus to promote his flagship Hustler magazine or any other skin rag.
“Obviously, we were not bringing Larry to campus to talk about pornography. We were bringing Larry to campus to talk about his First Amendment contributions, which were legion,” Richards said.
Colleges and universities are the grounds to test ideas, he said. Such marketplaces ensure the best notions rise to the surface. It’s the essence of the First Amendment, the professor said, explaining ideas like Flynt’s require the most protection.
“You don’t need a First Amendment to protect the popular viewpoints. The majority takes care of itself in terms of popularity and popular viewpoints,” he said.
Richards assured his colleagues there would be a question-and-answer session and urged them to engage the publisher, to challenge his ideas. Flynt, he knew, would relish the opportunity.
‘Taste is not your strong suit, right, Larry?’
Richards met Flynt in 1998. He considered him a friend. Whereas most people associate Flynt with his peddling busty women and blue jokes, Richards will remember him as a First Amendment lion.
In the early 2000s, Flynt estimated he had spent about $60 million fighting for the First Amendment, the professor said. Many are familiar with Flynt’s legal battles over obscenity. A case in Cincinnati saw him briefly jailed in 1977 before his sentence was overturned on appeal.
Another obscenity charge in Georgia in 1978 was dismissed after a White supremacist, incensed over a Hustler photo spread featuring a Black man and White woman, shot Flynt, paralyzing him and landing him in the gold-plated wheelchair that became a trademark of his media appearances.
The highlight of his First Amendment resume came when televangelist Jerry Falwell sued Hustler for libel, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress after the magazine ran a parody about Falwell losing his virginity to his mother.
“Taste is not your strong suit, right, Larry?” interviewer Larry King asked the publisher.
“That’s right,” Flynt replied.
“He wanted to push them forward so there would be precedent,” Richards said. “He felt that as a publisher he had an obligation to push for advances in the First Amendment.”
Flynt never imagined he’d win the fight between the preacher and the pornographer. He lost the case in every jurisdiction before arriving at the US Supreme Court, which ruled 8-0 in his favor, saying, “The freedom to speak one’s mind is not only an aspect of individual liberty — and thus a good unto itself — but also is essential to the common quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole.”
‘He just could not stand hypocrisy’
Flynt used the First Amendment as a cape to crusade against what he saw as hypocrisy in politics, which he loathed. He regularly put up huge bounties for information to take down politicians.
“He just could not stand hypocrisy, and he wanted to root it out any time he saw it, and he wanted to make sure people found out about it,” Richards said.
What people often fail to understand, according to the professor, is that Flynt considered himself a publisher before a pornographer. In the ’90s, as the Beverly Hills-based Larry Flynt Publications expanded into adult video production, Flynt added to his portfolio numerous non-pornography titles, including magazines geared toward photography, computing, video games, music and even maternity fashion.
He was quick to cite Thomas Jefferson, who once said he’d prefer newspapers without a government over a government without newspapers, and wrote government abuse and fraud might run rampant “unless you have dependable journalists who shine light into the shadows and hold the bastards accountable.”
In a 2015 column celebrating Hustler’s 41st anniversary, Flynt boasted, “We have regularly offended the high and mighty, the powerful and corrupt, the pompous and shameless with uncompromising investigations and unscathing satire. That’s what the First Amendment protects — speech that rocks the boat and rattles the complacent.”
‘Larry Flynt didn’t save the First Amendment …’
Flynt, of course, went on to give his 2001 speech at Penn State. He arrived with his fifth and final wife, Liz Berrios, and a small entourage on his private jet before traveling to the Penn State auditorium, which had to be closed off because of fire regulations on capacity.
“I think it’s possible to stand up for the First Amendment and simultaneously acknowledge that sometimes the First Amendment publishes things that can be very hurtful,” Oliver told the student paper, “and to not acknowledge that hurt is a cause for concern.”
“When I was gunned down in the streets of Georgia and paralyzed,” Flynt said, “I saw that pretty much as my life being over, and I made a calculated decision to spend the rest of my life devoted to expanding the parameters of free speech.”
Students lined the back of the room, happy to stand and listen as Flynt walked them through the Falwell case, from the original filing in Falwell’s backyard of Virginia to the historic Supreme Court ruling, Richards recalled.
“He was always looking for a court challenge and kind of spent the speech talking about that,” Richards said. “He loved talking about the Falwell case. It’s certainly a crowning achievement in his First Amendment work.”
Flynt spent ample time answering questions and stayed after the billed closing time to talk to people who didn’t get a chance to address him during the Q&A session.
“He loved to spar with people who would come up, and he’s very good at it,” the professor said.
After the event, Richards rode with Flynt to dinner, and the publisher said he heard that his appearance at Penn State had gotten the school “into a little hot water with a state legislator,” which the professor confirmed.
“I wouldn’t have given my legs for anything or anyone, so I think that disqualifies me for hero status,” he told the newspaper.
CNN’s Larry King pressed him on the matter during the 1997 interview.
“You don’t consider yourself a hero?”
“No,” Flynt replied flatly.
Falwell interjected: “Larry didn’t save the First Amendment. The First Amendment saved him.”
Falwell continued but Flynt interrupted him.
“First thing he’s said I agree with.”