Interview with Larry Flynt
I am very excited to bring you an exclusive interview with Larry Flynt, adult industry mogul, head of Larry Flynt Publications, and free speech activist.
I first gained interest in Larry as an individual when I watched the movie “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and learned of his contributions to the adult industry as a free speech activist. Larry continues his fight for free speech in a much broader context and you can learn more about it on his website LarryFlynt.com.
I am thankful that Larry took time out of his incredibly busy schedule to answer some questions for us, so I hope you really enjoy the interview!
Monica: I watched your interview on The Henry Rollins Show (July 2007), and what I found really interesting was that besides your gold wheelchair, you looked like an everyday guy. You seem very approachable. Do you get a lot of regular people trying to talk to you in public?
Larry Flynt: I do have people who come up and want to say hello and mostly to say thanks for fighting for our First Amendment rights. It is something that should be important to everyone.
Monica: Do you ever tire of your fame? Do you sometimes wish you could just blend into a crowd or be unrecognizable?
Larry Flynt: I think everyone has the secret desire to become successful and hopefully famous, so why would I tire of something that I have worked to achieve.
Monica: In the Rollins interview you said “the genie’s out of the bottle now, nobody’s going to put it back in” when discussing the Bush administration’s effect on the porn industry. While pornography certainly can’t be stopped, what do you see as some of the threats facing pornography as a form of free speech today?
Larry Flynt: The threats to free speech do not just face the porn industry. The first amendment is under attack like it never has been before. Recent presidential directives from Bush suggest you can be thrown in prison for undermining the administrations plans for peace in Iraq. Well, what the hell does that mean? It means that simply speaking your mind can get you thrown in jail. By speaking the way I’m speaking to you now, I could be subject to criminal prosecution. I’m not worried about how much pussy I can show in the magazine. I’m worrying about how Americans can exercise their right to speak freely.
Monica: Do you feel you are still at the forefront of defending porn as part of the people’s right to free speech?
Larry Flynt: I will never back down when it comes to giving people the kind of erotic entertainment they desire.
Monica: Have you grown bored of pornography, or does it still excite you?
Larry Flynt: There is always the thrill of seeing a naked beautiful woman and if that thrill goes away, than we all should switch to some other line of business.
Monica: The internet opened up an entirely new world for pornography and change is always on the horizon. What are some new technologies or changes you think we will see within the porn industry in the next decade?
Larry Flynt: The biggest will be the merging of the Internet and Broadcast Television to the point where everyone will have their cable modem or DSL hooked up to their large flat screen TVs and will be searching the web and viewing content at the same time they are watching their latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy or Law & Order.
Monica: In an interview (with Interview, by Lynda Obst, Dec. 1996) you were discussing feminist opinions of your magazine Hustler, and said “To me, the exploitation factor is a figment of the feminist imagination.” Do you believe that pornography never exploits or degrades?
Larry Flynt: Exploits who? I exploit men. Men will pay good money just to see naked women. If anyone should feel taken advantage of it’s men. And I haven’t heard a man complain so far.
Monica: Do you think that perhaps people read your magazine, take in all of the images, all of the articles, and all of the cartoons, and assume that they are representative of your personality on the whole? Are they?
Larry Flynt: Obviously there are elements of me in the magazine in my perspective on the political climate and the viewpoints that we have about society and everything that current administration is doing wrong, but the magazine is also a collection of viewpoints from the entire Magazine staff and I don’t think anyone thinks that everything in it is just my opinion. I just steer them in a direction and oversee what they do but you have to have a good creative team to put everything together.
Monica: I think what I’ve found most surprising about your personality after reading/watching a lot of your interviews is that you tend to be forgiving and open minded when it comes to your critics. What other personality traits do you posess that you think might surprise people?
Larry Flynt: I pretty much an open about my life and viewpoints so I don’t think that there are a lot of surprises left.
Monica: In your Henry Rollins interview, you said “I never apologize for being a fan of the purest form of art, which is pornography”. What do you apologize for? What I mean is, is there anything in your life that you wish you could go back and do better?
Larry Flynt: When people ask me what I would do differently in my past if I had the opportunity to do so, my answer is the same, I would have worn a bulletproof vest.
Monica: Do you think the girl in the header of my site is sexy? P.S She looks like me!
Larry Flynt: While I am not a big fan of tattoos, you certainly have a nice sexy look to yourself. With the tattoos, maybe we can have you come in for Hustler’s Taboo.
Monica: Is there anything further you’d like to say to the readers and porn surfers at MonicasReviews.com?
Larry Flynt: To just keep enjoying and watching and reading adult content and do not be ashamed about it and make sure to make your voice heard that everyone has the first amendment right to do so.
