“To this day, I’m proud to call him my friend.”
The case eventually reached the Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled in Flynt’s favor.
White supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin later confessed to shooting Flynt, claiming he was outraged by interracial photos inHustler.
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He was executed in 2013, whichFlynt spoke out againstat the time.
He unsuccessfully ran for president in 1984 and governor of California in 2003.
“The question is, am I a smut peddler or a First Amendment crusader?
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“Flynt told EW in 1996.
“I’d say a little bit of both.
Others are my ardent fans… All I know is that the debate is never going to go away.
Not in my lifetime, anyway.”
The two were longtime partners in business as well as their personal lives.
Leasure died in 1987.
