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Larry Flynt (archive image)
Photo: Dan Callister / Getty Images
The well-known US porn entrepreneur Larry Flynt is dead. The founder of the magazine "Hustler" died at the age of 78 in Los Angeles, as US media reported on Wednesday, citing his family.
(Read a portrait of Flynt's 70th birthday from 2012 here.)
Flynt, who was memorialized in the 1996 Hollywood film "Larry Flynt - The Naked Truth," was a highly contentious publisher.
In 1974 he founded »Hustler« - in direct competition with more conservative publications such as Bob Guccione's »Penthouse« or Hugh Hefner's »Playboy«.
While the »Playboy« still applies certain aesthetic standards to this day and disguises its content as »tasteful eroticism«, the »Hustler« was concerned with absolutely clear images from the start.
The appearance of almost every single issue had to be enforced in court.
The menace of these legal skirmishes first became apparent in 1976 when Flynt was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a judge in Cincinnatti for "profanity and organized crime".
He only had to sit out six days.
In 1978, Flynt was gunned down by a right-wing extremist after posting pictures of a couple of different skin colors.
Since then, Flynt has been in a wheelchair and became addicted to pain medication.
The side effects of the drugs and his excessive lifestyle affected the rest of his life.
Millions for info against Trump
Even with advancing age, the entrepreneur repeatedly pushed himself into the public eye.
In 2017, he announced a $ 10 million reward for compromising information about then President Donald Trump that led to his impeachment.
He had placed a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post for his offer.
Flynt described Trump's presidency as illegitimate at the time.
This had proven that he was dangerously unsuitable.
During Trump's election campaign, Flynt had already offered a million dollars to anyone who discloses video or audio material that proves Trump is acting illegally or sexually degrading others.
This was followed by the release of the Access Hollywood video in which Trump brags about the way he sexually harasses women.
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