American porn purveyor, Larry Flynt, who built Hustler magazine into an adult entertainment empire, has died.
Flynt was 78-year-old when he passed away at his Los Angeles home yesterday.
Flynt was shot in 1978 while standing outside a courthouse in Georgia during a trial for obscenity.
The assassination attempt left him a paraplegic. He had his wheelchair gold-plated and lined with velvet.
Flynt was one of America’s most notorious pornographers.
Born in Kentucky in 1942, Flynt was a school drop-out who began his career in the adult industry by launching strip clubs in Ohio along with his brother.
According to Flynt, at the height of circulation, the publication was bought by about three million people a month.
His pioneering legal battles were depicted in the 1996 film The People vs Larry Flynt, in which he was played by Woody Harrelson.
One lawsuit, in particular, saw Flynt sued for a sexual parody cartoon of televangelist Jerry Falwell that appeared in Hustler in 1983.
His business empire extended into other areas of entertainment and was thought to have a $150m turnover at one point, according to Reuters.
Away from pornography, he launched and lost long-shot bids at the political office and was married five times.
