Multi-millionaire adult magazine publisher Larry Flynt has died of heart failure at his Hollywood home.
The 78-year-old founder of Hustler magazine built the publication into an adult entertainment empire from his beginnings as an Ohio strip club owner.
Flynt constantly challenged the establishment and became a target for the religious right and feminist groups.
His company produced not only Hustler but other niche publications. He also owned a video production company, various websites, a Los Angeles-area casino and 10 Hustler boutiques. He also licensed the Hustler name to independently owned strip clubs.
His publishing and financial successes were offset in equal measure by controversies and tragedies. Shot by a sniper in 1978, Flynt was paralysed from the waist down and used a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
He fought battles with drug and alcohol addiction, and his fourth wife died of a heroin overdose. His daughter, Lisa Flynt-Fugate, died in a 2014 car crash in Ohio at age 47.
With a fortune estimated at more than £72.3 million, Flynt spent his later years in the political arena. A self-described progressive, Flynt was no fan of former President Donald Trump.
Before the 2016 election, he offered up to one million dollars for video or audio recordings of Mr Trump engaging in illegal or “sexually demeaning or derogatory” activity.
In 2017, Flynt offered a £7.2 million reward for evidence that would lead to Mr Trump’s impeachment.
His life was depicted in the acclaimed 1996 film The People vs. Larry Flynt, which brought Oscar nominations for director Milos Forman and Woody Harrelson, who played Flynt.
