The self-described 'smut peddler who cares', Larry Flynt Jr, has died at the age of 78.
Mr Flynt’s brother Jimmy Flynt confirmed his death but did not cite a specific cause.
The First Amendment crusader suffered from a variety of health problems since a 1978 assassination attempt that left him a paraplegic and rendered to a gold-plated wheelchair.
The Hustler magazine publisher pushed the limits of free speech, using his pornography empire to further social acceptance of sexuality, freedom of expression and free speech standards, but was never in doubt about the nature of his 'work'.
“Just because I publish pornography does not mean that I am not concerned about the social ills that all of us are,” he once told an interviewer.
“My competitors always masqueraded their pornography as art,” Flynt told the Cincinnati Post. “We never had any pretensions about what we did … We have proved that barnyard humour has a market appeal.”
The 1996 movie The People vs Larry Flynt starring Woody Harrelson was based on Flynt’s life.
He once ran for president against Ronald Reagan, promoting himself as “the smut peddler who cares”, and later campaigned for governor of California.
A controversial character indeed.