Provocative and libertarian porn mogul Larry Flynt dies

Porn mogul Larry Flynt, founder of "Hustler" magazine at the heart of a 1990's Milos Forman movie and self-proclaimed free speech advocate, died Wednesday in Los Angeles at the age of 78.

"He passed away quietly during his sleep" in the hospital, with his wife Elizabeth and daughter Theresa by his side, a spokesperson for the Flynt group said in a statement sent to AFP.

Larry Flynt died "from a sudden illness," the text says, without further details.

According to American media citing his family, the businessman died of cardiac arrest.

Flynt had launched in 1974 his pornographic magazine "Hustler", competitor of "Playboy" and "Penthouse" which he considered "old-fashioned", with very explicit photos and a deliberately scandalous tone.

He then developed his empire with other publications, clubs and sex shops, studios specializing in X movies and websites.

In 2000, the businessman even opened a "Hustler" casino in the suburbs of Los Angeles, where he had been established for a long time.

Extremist close to the Ku Klux Klan opens fire on him

In October 2017, the lifted old man, nailed to a gold-plated wheelchair since an assassination attempt in 1978, had given himself a final blow by offering, on a full page in the Washington Post, 10 million dollars to who would provide him with any information leading to the impeachment of Donald Trump.

It was his "patriotic duty," said this accustomed to controversies and trials who had built his reputation and his fortune on provocation.

The man was used to the method: to support President Clinton entangled in the Lewinsky affair in 1998, he had obtained the heads of several elected officials compromised in sex scandals revealed in his magazine.

His taste for provocation almost cost him his life: on March 6, 1978, near a court where he was prosecuted for the umpteenth time for "obscenity", an extremist close to the Ku Klux Klan opened fire on him, leaving him paraplegic.

The shooter, a racist serial killer who was not arrested until 1980 for other crimes and was never questioned for the attack, had not appreciated photos published by Hustler featuring partners of different colors .

Larry Flynt's health from then on continued to deteriorate, making him dependent on painkillers and drugs.