Beverly Hills, CA – May 1, 2012 – Hustler Magazine and its publisher, Larry Flynt, today achieved another victory in defense of the First Amendment. In a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, the court threw out a jury award of punitive damages in a lawsuit brought by Maureen Toffoloni, the mother of Nancy Benoit, the murdered wife of professional wrestler Chris Benoit. The lawsuit alleged that in publishing nude photographs of Ms. Benoit as part of an article about her murder, Hustler violated her right of publicity.

At trial in an Atlanta federal court, the jury awarded Ms. Benoit’s estate approximately $19.6 million in punitive damages for Hustler’s publication of Benoit’s images. The trial judge reduced that amount to the Georgia statutory maximum of $250,000, which the court of appeals decision vacated.

On appeal, Hustler argued that even if the nude photographs were not newsworthy, Flynt and his staff honestly believed that their publication was newsworthy and protected by the First Amendment. As a result, any award of punitive damages was unjustified. In agreeing with Hustler, the 11th Circuit panel found that Ms. Toffoloni had failed to refute the testimony of numerous witnesses establishing that Hustler’s staff honestly believed in the newsworthiness of the images, and that “no reasonable jury could find by clear and convincing evidence that punitive damages were warranted.”

Come meet Larry Flynt for his book signing tour of One Nation Under Sex!

He will be appearing at the Hustler Hollywood stores in the following cities:
NEW ORLEANS, LA: June 21
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL: June 22
NASHVILLE, TN: June 23
CINCINNATI, OH: June 24
MONROE, OH: June 25
LEXINGTON, KY: June 26
ST. LOUIS, MO: June 27
SAN DIEGO, CA: July 12
TACOMA, WA: July 14

All appearances start at 7pm.
The first 25 guests receive a free give bag!

For location details and directions visit www.HustlerStore.com

It started when a bunch of college kids, responding to a tweet, descended on Wall Street. They stayed, and the crowd grew. Now there are thousands of them, and they’re not just in New York City anymore. Nor is the movement still limited to undergrads.

In a nation where 1% of the population controls almost half of the wealth, these protesters have chosen to call themselves the 99 Percent. They are the working class, the poor, the disenfranchised. They represent everyone excluded from a political process that has been hijacked by corporations and multimillionaires. The 99 Percent want their government back.

This looks and feels like something different. It feels organic. It reminds me of the 1960s’ antiwar movement. A long-simmering undercurrent of unrest in our country is now bubbling to the surface. Our politicians ignore this movement at their peril. As Bob Dylan said, “The times they are a-changin’.”

As seen in THE WASHINGTON POST Sunday, March 4, 2012

LARRY FLYNT AND HUSTLER MAGAZINE ANNOUNCE A CASH OFFER OF UP TO $1 MILLION

Do you have information about infidelity, sexual impropriety or corruption concerning a current United States senator, congressperson or prominent goverment official?

Can you provide documented evidence of your claims? Larry Flynt and Hustler Magazine will pay you up to $1 million if we choose to use your material and publish your verified story.

*All calls or correspondence will be kept strictly confidential.
Publication of submitted materials is to be determined by HUSTLER in its sole discretion. The amount and terms of payment are subject to actual usage by HUSTLER and mutual agreement prior to publication.

College students and recent graduates are carrying nearly a trillion dollars in student debt. According to a recent report, college graduates in 2010 walked away owing an average of $25,250 in loans; 9.1% of them were unable to find work. Others were forced to take low-wage jobs that did not reflect their skill level. Add to that the escalating cost of a college education— California public universities increased tuition by 21%—and you all but eliminate low-income students from the collegiate ranks. It’s a scandal that America has done so little to make higher education affordable to every citizen.

To those who have been frozen out of the education system, I say don’t give up. I left school in the eighth grade. When I was 15, I joined the Navy (with a fake ID). Painfully aware of my lack of education, I subscribed to a book-of-the-month club. That was followed by a series of correspondence courses. And more reading— everything I could get my hands on. My message is this: You can teach yourself everything you need to know to be successful. You just have to want it. Being self-taught won’t open any doors for you, but it will teach you how to go around them.

Scientists tell us that dolphins and porpoises have a complicated language and can actually learn to use an iPad. An octopus can build its own house, birds sing complicated melodies, and parrots can remember as many as a thousand words. Monkeys can be taught sign language, how to drive a car and smoke cigarettes. I’m told that dogs, which possess the intellectual capacity of a three-year-old child, can understand more than 50 words, although from my experience, none of those words include “Don’t shit in the house!”

On the other hand, many humans don’t believe in global climate change, evolution or that President Barack Obama was born in America. They do, however, believe in astrology, angels, virgin birth, a God with a long white beard (whom they should thank when winning an Emmy) and the ability to cure homosexuality through prayer. My question is this: Just how much smarter are we than our animal cousins? From my point of view we humans have very little to be smug about.

It started when a bunch of college kids, responding to a tweet, descended on Wall Street. They stayed, and the crowd grew. Now there are thousands of them, and they’re not just in New York City anymore. Nor is the movement still limited to undergrads. In a nation where 1% of the population controls almost half of the wealth, these protesters have chosen to call themselves the 99 Percent. They are the working class, the poor, the disenfranchised. They represent everyone excluded from a political process that has been hijacked by corporations and multimillionaires. The 99 Percent want their government back. This looks and feels like something different. It feels organic. It reminds me of the 1960s’ antiwar movement. A long-simmering undercurrent of unrest in our country is now bubbling to the surface. Our politicians ignore this movement at their peril.

As Bob Dylan said, “The times they are a-changin’.”

Larry Flynt was awestruck after seeing his name on the American National Tree for the first time during a recent visit to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. As a courageous defender of the First Amendment, Flynt has been honored with a plaque on the monument, which pays tribute to 100 Americans—both famous and obscure—whose actions have helped safeguard the U.S. Constitution. We sat down with Larry to discuss his thoughts on being part of such select company and why freedom of speech is so important.

HUSTLER: How did it feel to see your name on the American National Tree?
LARRY FLYNT: It was pretty exciting. I had heard that it was there, but I didn’t realize what a big deal it was, so I never gave it that much thought. Sidney Poitier, the actor who’s a friend of mine, had told me four or five years ago that it was there. I was in Philadelphia on my [One Nation Under Sex ] book tour, so I thought I’d go to the Constitution Center and take a look. It was really kind of a strange experience because the curator didn’t charge us the cover charge, and everyone was fussing over us the whole time. I couldn’t quite understand what this was about until the curator took me to the very middle of the Constitution Center, where they had this exhibit called the American National Tree.

Tell us about the exhibit.
It was an electronic monument with the inscription “This monument is dedicated to 100 people who advanced and protected the Constitution of the United States of America.” And if you press a button where your name is, a big video explodes— one foot by two foot wide—and it has pictures of you. It also has a bio spelling out the different reasons why you were selected to be on the tree. Well, selected is really not the process because I asked the curator, “Who decides who the 100 names are?”

He said, “It’s done by scholars and several universities around the country. You can only put one name on once a year, and consequently one name gets taken off. But you don’t ever have to worry about your name coming off.”

Were you included in the first 100 honorees when the Constitution Center opened in 2003?
Yes, and I was really overwhelmed about it because it’s such a significant part of history. You’re right in the center of where it all happened. I said to the curator, “Why are you guys making such a big deal of me being here?” He said, “Well, Mr. Flynt, most of those people up there are dead. So they’re not gonna come. But you’re alive.” It was a very moving experience. I would have gone there and visited much sooner if I’d known the extent of the display.

Who are you next to on the tree?
Katharine Graham, who was the owner of the Washington Post , for her role in Watergate. And Frederick Douglass, the first black man invited to the White House, who was an author and advocate for civil rights. I’m right between those two.

Is the tree part of a larger exhibit?
Yes. There’s a room where the Constitution was drafted. The center has life-size bronzes of George Washington, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, three of our Founding Fathers. These bronzes are just so realistic, it’s unbelievable. You get this humbling feeling as you go through the center and realize all the history that took place there. It’s overwhelming.

The tree is located right in the heart of Constitution Center. It is the main display. You would have thought the Founding Fathers— the drafters of the Constitution—would have been front and center in the exhibit, but they aren’t. They’re in a side room. I’m not questioning why the Constitution Center did it, but the tree was right there, a living, breathing, interactive piece of history.

Why is protecting the First Amendment so important to you?
Without the First Amendment, nothing else is of any importance at all. If the First Amendment goes, we lose everything. Not just freedom of speech but freedom of religion. It’s the cornerstone of our whole democracy, and it’s withstood the test of time in many court cases down through the years. That’s why I’ve been proud to be a part of upholding the First Amendment. Many people don’t understand that freedom of speech is not the freedom for the thought you love. It’s the freedom for the thought you hate the most. We pay a price to live in a free society, and that price is toleration. We have to tolerate things that we don’t necessarily like so we can be free. And that’s what most Americans don’t understand.

If you go out and take a poll and ask people, “Do you believe in free speech,” 98% of them will say they do. Then ask them, “How about pornography? How about flag burning? How about hate speech?” All of a sudden your almost 100% support falls to below 50% because everybody has their own vision of what the First Amendment is supposed to be, what kind of speech it’s supposed to protect. That’s why it really needs to be protected because the courts and individuals throughout history and even today are attempting to compromise the First Amendment every chance they get.

Are these limitations to the First Amendment the most pressing free speech issue in America right now?
We had a former Supreme Court justice who said the First Amendment is not absolute. You can’t scream “Fire!” in a crowded theater. Well, I happen to think he’s wrong. I think you can scream “Fire!” in a crowded theater. If anyone is hurt as a result of your doing that, then that’s the crime you should be prosecuted for. I’m an absolutist. I’m a purist when it comes to the First Amendment. I just don’t think we should compromise it in any way.

But compromise is just part of it. There’s also outright abuse. If certain political leaders had their way about it, there wouldn’t be a First Amendment. You would just shut up and do things their way. That’s the way they play the game.

You’re known for pushing the envelope and taking risks. Are there aspects of free speech even you wouldn’t touch?
Of course there are. I would never exploit children because you’re violating the rights of someone not old enough to speak for themselves. But I think that’s a crime totally separate from the First Amendment.

A lot of people try to put everybody on a guilt trip about the First Amendment by saying, for example, hate speech violates the rights of others. Well, there are laws to protect the rights of others. The First Amendment should not be caught in a web because it’s purely free speech.

You’ve obviously accomplished much in your life. Is there anything you haven’t done and want to do?
Accomplishing what I did in Philadelphia—it’s difficult to outdo that. It’s almost the equivalent to being honored on Mount Rushmore.

What do you want your legacy to be?
Being remembered as someone who fought to expand the parameters of free speech in a good way. I think that would be a great legacy.

I’m worried the U.S. economy is about to slowdown drastically. President Obama should be worried too. The signs are not good: The housing market is at its lowest since 2002, the national unemployment rate remains above 9%, and job creation is static. On top of that, the President seems ready to make massive budget cuts just to accommodate the Republicans. That will further weaken the economy.

Had Obama pushed for a larger stimulus package and stiffer regulation of Wall Street, we wouldn’t be in such deep shit now. One thing’s for certain: If the economy tanks, even Bozo the Clown could beat the President in 2012.

Obama will need a lot of luck to get out of this mess. So will the American people.

When it came to setting up our government, Thomas Jefferson had three concerns: tyranny of kings, tyranny of theocrats and tyranny of the wealthy. For the time being we seem to be safe from kings and theocrats. We are not, however, safe from the superrich.

Here’s what Jefferson said: “I believe the banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered.” The bankers and corporations have bought and paid for our politicians, both on the Left and the Right. That’s why our elected representatives stand mute when it comes to defending the rights of working- class Americans.

It’s time to heed Jefferson’s words. It’s time to fight back.