Tag: larry flynt
Why Larry Flynt Is Endorsing Hillary Clinton

Why Larry Flynt Is Endorsing Hillary Clinton

By John Heilemann, Bloomberg News (TNS)

When Larry Flynt is feeling righteous, he describes himself as a crusader: for civil liberties in general and free speech in particular, against capital punishment, political correctness, and hypocrisy in high places. In more mischievous moments, the sobriquets he applies are earthier, funnier — and more on point. His 1996 autobiography was titled An Unseemly Man: My Life as Pornographer, Pundit, and Social Outcast. The slogan of his quixotic 2003 campaign for the California governorship was “the smut peddler who cares.” But now Bloomberg Politics can exclusively report that the impresario behind the Hustler empire is adding a new element to his persona: Flynt is officially ready for Hillary.

The bestowal of Flynt’s blessing on Clinton occurred this week in his sprawling, surreal aerie — with its jumbled-up mix of American southern and Italianate decor, the place has the look of an unholy, Hollywood Babylon hybrid of Tara and the Uffizi — high above Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Flynt’s people had lured me out West with the promise that he had something of import to say about the Democratic front-runner. It took little prompting to get it out of him. “I’m endorsing Hillary Clinton for president!” Flynt declared.

Flynt’s backing of Clinton is, on the face of it, unsurprising. His support for Democrats at the presidential level has been lifelong and unfailing; one of his better friends in politics is California Gov. Jerry Brown, who, as it happened, was next in line to see Flynt after I exited the building. His famous/infamous practice of trawling for the sexual indiscretions of public figures — which reached its apogee during the impeachment furor around Bill Clinton and claimed the scalp of House Speaker-to-be (and then not-to-be) Bob Livingston — has been directed almost entirely at Republicans. On his desk the day we met were galleys from the next issue of Hustler, including a column that confers on George W. Bush the honorific “A**hole of the Century.”

Few Clinton supporters will take issue with the animating impulse behind Flynt’s endorsement: the future makeup of the Supreme Court. “We’ve had a right-leaning court for half a century,” he says from the gold-plated wheelchair he’s occupied since being shot and paralyzed in 1978. “But if Hillary gets in, chances are she’s going to have an opportunity to appoint two, maybe three justices … and we could shift the balance there.”

But no small number of Clinton’s ardent fans, and especially those who regard her as a feminist icon, may find it unsettling — or queasy-making — to have a man who has made a vast fortune in the skin trade squarely in her, and their, corner. For his part, Flynt brushes off the apparent incongruity. He thinks of himself as a feminist (of a kind), he tells me, though he acknowledges that “people in Gloria Steinem’s world, they don’t — they think I’m the misogynist of the century.” As for his candidate, Flynt laughs and says, “I’m sure that Hillary doesn’t necessarily approve of everything I do.”

For Clinton, a raft of endorsements from Capitol Hill to Hollywood have been a rare bright spot in a campaign launch filled with poor reviews and worse headlines. But whatever her private views of Flynt and his profession, it beggars belief that she and her team will be issuing any press releases touting the latest bold-faced name to clamber aboard her bandwagon.

Flynt is well aware of that most politicians prefer to keep their distance from him, and that Hillary will likely be among them. And he professes not to care. “Hillary doesn’t need no help from me,” he says. “All she needs to do is start fighting back” — in particular against “Clinton Cash” author Peter Schweizer, whose campaign against Hillary Flynt likens to that of his bete noire Jerry Falwell against Bill Clinton in 1992. “One of the biggest evangelists in the world put out a video accusing President Clinton of murder — (and Schweizer’s book) is the same kind of smear tactic.”

That Flynt holds a special place in his heart for 42 is evident, and Flynt claims that the feeling is mutual. In 2006, the two men ran into each other at a fundraiser in Las Vegas for Jimmy Carter’s son, Jack, who was running for Senate in Nevada. According to Flynt, Bill Clinton — apparently still grateful for the porn king’s role in the downfall of Bob Livingston, a key moment in the deflation of the impeachment bubble — walked over, shook Flynt’s hand, and said, “You’re my hero.” As I prepare to leave, Flynt shows me a photo on his desk of him and Clinton from the fundraiser, noting that the former president has denied the quote in question. “He can say whatever he wants,” Flynt chuckles. “I have three witnesses.”

(c)2015 Bloomberg News, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: Toglenn via Wikicommons

Larry Flynt on Sex, Politics, and the Real Scandals in Washington

On June 16, the same day former Congressman Anthony Weiner resigned from office, legendary Hustler publisher Larry Flynt publicly offered him a job at Flynt Management, LLC. In the letter, published on Huffington Post, Flynt emphasized the seriousness of the offer, “Just as we do not undertake insincere political crusades, we do not make insincere job offers.” So far, Weiner has not responded. When Flynt spoke to the Progressive Reader, he insinuated that “somebody probably made [Weiner] a better offer” in order to persuade him to resign “so he wouldn’t hurt his party anymore.” Nonetheless, Flynt’s offer stands – be it next month, next year, or even five years from now.

The bid to employ Weiner might have surprised many, but Flynt has taken an active (though unconventional) interest in politics and politicians for over 30 years. Flynt’s “political crusades” began in 1976 when he issued a $1 million reward in the Washington Post for documentation of “illicit sexual relations” among prominent politicians. The most successful of these snares compelled the Speaker of the House-Elect, Republican Congressman Bob Livingston, to resign in 1998 during Clinton’s impeachment hearings, for carrying on his own extramarital affair. Then, in 2007, Flynt busted Republican Senator David Vitter, a major backer of abstinence-only sex education, for using the services of a D.C. prostitution ring. All in all, according to what Flynt told Bruce Handy in a 2007 Vanity Fair article, Flynt has spent at least $5 million on investigating political sex scandals over the years.

It might seem contradictory that Flynt offered Weiner employment while continuing to engage in vendettas to decommission other politicians. To Flynt, however, there is a crucial difference between Weiner and those others.  Vitter is the type of politician who dishes out one set of rules while operating under another. Flynt has no respect for this sort of hypocrisy (including anti-gay Congressman Larry Craig and homophobic preacher Ted Haggard, both of whom, it turns out, practiced gay sex). Flynt told us, “Hypocrisy is the biggest threat to democracy.” Of Weiner — who, as far as we know, took no political stance on sexting – Flynt says, “I think he’s a smart guy, had a little incident, but I think he’ll be able to handle it – I really do.”

In April, Flynt published his fourth book (his third to connect politics with sex), One Nation Under Sex: How the Private Lives of Presidents, First Ladies and Their Lovers Changed the Course of American History (Palgrave MacMillan, $25), co-authored with Columbia professor and historian David Eisenbach. While its cover may raise some eyebrows (“Sex” appears in all capitals, irreverently colored in with an image of the American flag), One Nation Under Sex is a serious book that shows how the sexual lives of leaders have shaped national policy. Flynt said, “The reason why I did the book was to go back and see if the sex scandals from 200 years ago were the same as they are today.” His findings? “It’s very much true,” he said.

One Nation Under Sex not only rehashes some famous sex scandals, but reveals their lasting ramifications — both positive and negative — on U.S. history. For example, the two authors show that Benjamin Franklin’s seduction abilities played a role in gaining the French support during the Revolutionary War, and that President James Buchanan’s 32-year-old homosexual affair with southern senator William King (evidenced by their personal correspondences), influenced Buchanan’s pro-slavery stance – ultimately encouraging the secession that preceded the Civil War.

Why haven’t we heard much about these affairs before? Flynt said, “For the most part, it’s been covered up over the years…history books tend to be conservative. They only want politics, policy – they don’t want anything about sex scandals.” But history is riddled with them; Flynt observes that political sex scandals occur “about every six months.”

In their conclusion, Flynt and Eisenbach explain this bad behavior with research that says politicians are by nature risk-takers and sensation-seekers, more prone to engage in “reckless sexual behavior” than the rest of us. Flynt hopes that Americans learn to discriminate between innocuous sexual indiscretions and malicious political ones. Once we’re able to distinguish more clearly, the authors write, “We might not be able to prevent our leaders from being sexually reckless, but we can prevent their sex scandals from diverting our attention from the real problems at hand.”

Weiner to Hollywood?

Some of soon-to-depart Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner’s hesitation to leave office was financial; he earns over $150,000 per year as a House member and is not a rich man. Perhaps he needn’t worry?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Doug Ellin, executive producer of “Entourage,” has offered Weiner a guest star spot on the show, in which he’d play himself. As of yet, there’s been no response from the embattled former New York representative, Ellin said.

If it’s the camera that Weiner is suddenly worried about, he has another potential job opportunity. In a letter published on The Huffington Post, Hustler founder Larry Flynt is offering Weiner a job in the company’s internet group.

“I cannot emphasize enough the genuineness of this offer. We are a serious corporation which, as you know, has been heavily involved in the political environment of this country for over thirty-five years,” Flynt wrote to Weiner. “Our key missions have consistently included the crucial fight of battling hypocrisy within the federal and state governments. Flynt Management Group, LLC and Hustler Magazine have been dedicated to decades of serious political commentary. Just as we do not undertake insincere political crusades, we do not make insincere job offers.” [Huffington Post]