Larry Flynt, the controversial founder of Hustler, died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 78. Flynt spent most of his life defying cultural norms and found himself embroiled in lawsuits and legal issues as he built a massive pornography empire worth $100 million. According to TMZ, he suffered from heart failure.
Flynt started publishing Hustler in 1974 as a more crude and pornographic alternative to Playboy. Hustler featured full-frontal nudity and included both male and female models. By the end of the decade, the magazine had amassed more than two million subscribers.
In 1978, he was left paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin.
Flynt faced multiple lawsuits over the content Hustler, including one which made its way to the Supreme Court. The case, brought by televangelist Jerry Falwell, was the basis for the 1996 movie The People vs. Larry Flynt, starring Woody Harrelson.
Flynt also threw his hat into politics, running for president as a Republican in 1984 and for governor of California in 2003. He also weighed in the impeachment proceedings of Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. He offered $1 million for any information about evidence of sexual transgressions during Clinton's impeachment trial and a $10 million reward for information that would lead to Trump's impeachment.
Flynt leaves behind his wife, Elizabeth Berrios, five daughters, one son, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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