Larry Flynt's Porn Empire Who Stands Tall Despite Being Shaken By The Law And Serial Killers

Larry Flynt (Foto: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Going back to the late 1990s, when the biographical drama film The People versus Larry Flynt was released. This film highlights the 15 years of porn king Larry Flynt's life, when he was aged 30 to 45.

Flynt is the founder and owner of a pornographic magazine called Hustler, which has since become a word that has been widely used and abused by politicians.

'Hustler' is a slang term which means' someone who uses fraudulent or immoral methods to get money; cheater'. For politicians, this term refers to 'con artists who corrupted the public treasury for decades.

We go back to Mr. Flynt. In the film, some people say they sold chickens by the roadside as children. However, Flynt, as a 'hustler', sold liquor at the age of 10 in rural Kentucky. The year was 1952.

In his late 30s, when Flynt returns from the navy due to a respectful discharge, he buys his mother's bar with the savings he has. He renovated the bar, then brought in strippers and turned it into what used to be called the 'Go-Go Club'.

Soon, he owned three other clubs in a neighboring state. To support his almost non-stop performance, Flynt takes amphetamines so he can work 20 hours a day.

In 1973, at the age of 31, Flynt decided to turn the black-and-white newsletter he had distributed free of charge on the streets into a complete magazine, in color images, which he called Hustler magazine. Initially published in newsletter format, this was Flynt's vehicle to advertise the girls and their clubs.

In one memorable line in the film, Flynt asked a photographer who was hesitant to shoot the private area of the posing model: "Do you believe in Almighty God?" asked Flynt.

"Yes, sir, I do," replied the photographer.

"Then why don't you take the girl's picture as I ordered?"

"Because, sir, it is against the Law!"

"Do you believe God created this beautiful girl?"

"Yes, sir, I do."

"So, surely, God made him also created his genitals. God's creation is far above the Laws of Man. So stop indulging, and shoot!"

Nearly broke

A year later, at a time when Hustler's monthly magazine prices were high and didn't sell well, Flynt nearly went bankrupt. However, he got a windfall. The paparazzi sold nude photos of the former first lady, Jackie Kennedy, basking in the sun on an island owned by her second husband, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

As a result, as soon as the latest Hustler edition was published, it sold like hotcakes. It didn't stop there. Many buyers end up becoming customers to make Flynt a millionaire at the age of 33.

So far, a true conman aka 'hustler' is ready to invest and start over, working all day for the money, seeing the opportunity in his hand, and taking big bets for it all. And then he had good luck.

Perhaps, this is what is meant by the saying: 'Fortune favors the brave', which means; luck sided with the brave.

However, with Flynt's financial troubles over, a legal storm began to strike. This success has brought attention to the fact that Larry published a pornographic magazine, contrary to the Obscenity Exception (Miller versus California, 1973) to the Free Speech guarantee clause in the American Constitution.

Flynt's lewd power was 'shaken' by law enforcement for several years, jailed more than once, shot by serial killers, rescued, resigned and fought his obscene case to the Supreme Court.

Flynt's Son Refuses to Be the Successor to the Porn Business

In his personal life, for several decades, Flynt has had five wives - starting with Althea's 'love in his life', then Mary, Peggy and Kathy Flynt, before finally ending with his widow, Lizzy. He was blessed with five daughters and a son.

One of his daughters was killed in a car accident in 2007. While another, Tonya - the eldest - accused his father of being a molester when he was young.

However, he later retracted his remarks by admitting that, "as a religious activist in the late 1990s, I said it in paid speeches to create a sensation."

Tonya needed the money because Flynt was estranged from her children. His father urged them to get college degrees, choose which royal division they preferred, then work for him in the family business.

Since the divisions available to the children were strip clubs, Hustler Casino, pornographic magazines and adult sites, no one accepted the offer. And Flynt's dad decided "they weren't real hustlers."

If his net worth was divided among his five living descendants, each would earn more than IDR 1.3 trillion.

Larry Flynt died of a heart attack two weeks ago. Initially, the funeral would be held in a glamorous manner featuring strippers. But, in order to appreciate the bereaved family, the Hustler Club postponed the event until an indefinite time.