U.S. PORN MOGUL LARRY FLYNT DIES AT 78

US porn mogul Larry Flynt, best known as the publisher of Hustler Magazine and a self-styled free-speech champion, died in Los Angeles Wednesday aged 78, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Family members confirmed the death to The Washington Post and NBC but did not cite a specific cause. Celebrity outlet TMZ, which broke the news, said Flynt had died from heart failure.

Flynt's representatives did not immediately respond to AFP's request for confirmation.

Flynt, a self-described "smut peddler with a heart," rose from abject poverty to run a vast adult entertainment empire. He published the first issue of Hustler Magazine -- created as a lowbrow, explicit counterpart to magazines like Playboy -- in 1974. Sales skyrocketed a year later when it ran a nude photo of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis sunbathing on vacation, and Flynt raked in his first million.

His business empire grew to include dozens of magazine titles, internet porn sites, clubs and a casino outside Los Angeles. In 1978, Flynt was paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot by a white supremacist angered by interracial sex photos that ran in Hustler.

This resulted in an on-and-off addiction to painkillers over the years.

Flynt's empire was estimated to be worth between $100 million and $500 million.

His other enduring legacy is as an outspoken free-speech advocate and the man behind Hustler v. Falwell, a 1988 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the US Constitution protects writers and artists that mock public figures.

The case overturned a $200,000 libel judgment against Flynt for "emotional distress" inflicted on conservative US televangelist Jerry Falwell. The offending article was a parody ad that ran in Hustler suggesting that Falwell's first sexual encounter was with his mother in an outhouse.

Allan MacDonell, who worked for Flynt Publications for nearly 20 years, wrote a kiss-and-tell book that portrayed his ex-boss in an unflattering light. Flynt told The New York Times that he was not offended.

"That's ridiculous," he said. "I'm the King of Slime. How could anyone say anything that would besmirch my reputation?"

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