From Oklahoma Gazette

American Hustler

Larry Flynt has made a career (and a lot of money) out of defending the First Amendment.

Larry Flynt, with his raspy, bullfrog voice, has always had his work cut out for him. Villified in the media, he continually has to overcome the image of him as a lecherous smut peddler.

Flynt is the name and legend behind Larry Flynt Publications (LFP), the increasingly diverse business that got its start publishing Hustlermagazine. Geared toward working-class men, it is the raunchier, riskier Playboy. The magazine has pushed the boundaries of not only good taste but legality. The multi-million-dollar publishing house also produces several other magazines, includingBarely Legal, which is devoted exclusively to pictorials of women ages 18-23. LFP produces online gambling games and adult videos, as well.

Its broadcast television reaches 67 countries worldwide.

In 1998, LFP branched out further into the retail business with a chain of upscale adult boutiques in West Hollywood. On June 12th, Hustler Hollywood quietly opened its 13th location right here in Oklahoma City, at 500 S. Meridian Ave. With the slogan, “Relax — it’s just sex!” they hope to bring a new kind of shopping experience to the reddest of the red states.

On the phone in the early morning from Los Angeles, Flynt sounds particularly hoarse and tired. The expectation is that he will say something raunchy or perverse — this is a man who once put a woman being fed into a meat grinder on the cover of his magazine. His courtly manners are a surprise.