BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—When Larry Flynt died suddenly this February, he did not leave behind a once iconic adult brand on the decline, but a tightly run galaxy of wildly successful businesses staffed with skilled executives and overseen by a handpicked successor, Liz Flynt, his wife of many years and a close confidant (source AVN)

I’ve been in the LFP building several times, but met Larry only once at the Adult Entertainment Expo. At one time, there were the big 3 pornographers, Bob Guccione, Hugh Hefner and Larry Flint. But unlike Guccione and Hefner Larry’s legacy isn’t a declining porn company on its way to oblivion, it’s a thriving multitude of different businesses. Plus this porn legend fought for our Freedom of Speech rights and he paid a hefty price for it. These things about Mr. Flynt are common knowledge, but I think most people, myself included, would have to do a fair amount of research to find out how Penthouse and Playboy impacted modern society, aside from some really nice looking photographs.

Anne Rice once wrote, “impossible people do impossible things.”

Larry Claxton Flynt Jr. was born in Lakeville, Magoffin County, Kentucky in 1941. His parents were share croppers and he was raised in poverty. (Privilege is about unearned wealth, not color). He ran away from home when he was 15 and joined the Army using a fake birth certificate. In 1960 he was the radar operator on duty aboard the USS Enterprise when it was sent to recover John Glenn’s space capsule. Larry was honorably discharged in 1964.

In 1965 Larry purchased a bar called the Keewee for $1,800 and after remodeling it, was earning $1,000 a week. He then purchased 2 other bars and worked long hours, sometimes as much as 20 hours per day. With the money he earned, he opened a higher end bar that featured nude dances and name it the “Hustler Club.” In 1972 he created a 2 page newsletter that became instantly popular with this patrons. Soon he expanded it to 16 pages and then to 32 and thereafter, it became the legendary magazine that built the empire.

When I saw Larry Flynt at AEE, I was struck by the image of him in his wheel chair. Keep in mind that at the time I was meat puppet and I was used to being around people that worked out and looked great. As I looked at the man I could also see Terra Patrick on the other side of the hallway and I immediately thought of “Beauty and the Beast.” It was a surreal moment and it was a very patriotic moment for me. Only in America could someone be a hated son of a bitch and still be loved for it. There’s no other nation in the world where that can happen and if we’re not careful this long fought for liberty, will cease to exist.

My sincere condolences to Liz Flynt on the loss of her husband and my best wishes for success to her and LFP . — Freedom creates opportunity and opportunity seized creates wealth, I for one, want to say thank you to Larry Flynt for demonstrating this.

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