Flynt on Falwell

Remember Miloš Forman’s film The People vs. Larry Flynt? Well, it tells the true story of a 1988 free-speech case in the United States Supreme Court known as “Hustler Magazine vs Falwell”. It’s an excellent film on Flynt’s fight to uphold the First Amendment to the American Constitution.

Yesterday, nearly a week after the passing of Falwell, the Los Angeles Times published Flynt’s somewhat moving obituary. The two never agreed on much, but Flynt still considered Falwell his friend:

I always kicked his ass about his crazy ideas and the things he said. Every time I’d call him, I’d get put right through, and he’d let me berate him about his views. When he was getting blasted for his ridiculous homophobic comments after he wrote his “Tinky Winky” article cautioning parents that the purple Teletubby character was in fact gay, I called him in Florida and yelled at him to “leave the Tinky Winkies alone.”

When he referred to Ellen Degeneres in print as Ellen ”Degenerate,” I called him and said, “What are you doing? You don’t need to poison the whole lake with your venom.” I could hear him mumbling out of the side of his mouth, “These lesbians just drive me crazy.” I’m sure I never changed his mind about anything, just as he never changed mine.

After reading Ann Coulter’s silly piece on Falwell, I realise that unlike her, Flynt the pornographer is acting like a true Christian.