Larry Flynt and Rob Black, aka Robert Zicari, have each issued statements in their ongoing public debate regarding the lack of financial support the adult industry has offered Black as he faces a federal obscenity trial that will likely be financially devastating.
Both sides agree that Black has the First Amendment right to produce the content that he chooses, but Flynt doesn’t feel obligated to protect content that he feels endangers the industry.
Black has been indicted on federal obscenity charges, along with Lizzie Borden and Extreme Associates, for videos that among other things depicted rape. He argues that by not helping him in his trial, Flynt and others in the adult industry that are hurting themselves – each case obscenity case the government wins affects the entire industry.
The debate began earlier this month when an article profiling black in Reason magazine hit the streets. Black complained to Reason that adult producers including Larry Flynt weren’t banding together to support him financially during his obscenity trial, which will likely be a drawn out and expensive affair. Flynt told AVN.com the reason why he and other major producers refused Black’s request for help – they felt Black was a,” guy who's bringing a lot of heat on the adult industry.”
Black then responded with an open letter suggesting that Flynt was a hypocrite for suggesting that there was a line between what was acceptable and not acceptable in adult.
“It is disheartening if it’s true that you apparently aren’t there to support my right in this fight to free speech and expression,” Black wrote. “If what they say you said, and this is how you feel, you are helping to convict me, by inferring that my product and I am out of the norm of our industry.”
Black attempted to draw parallels between Flynt’s obscenity trials and his own. Flynt new response rejects Black’s attempt to draw parallels between the two.
"I have never been in favor of forced sex, whether real or imagined. I have always promoted consensual sex and portrayed consensual sex,” Flynt wrote. “Bad taste should not be confused with physical abuse. This is where I part company with Mr. Black.”
Black was indicted on obscenity charges, along with Lizzie Borden and Extreme Associates, for videos that among other things depicted rape.
Black response to Flynt is that his videos are fiction. “I’m just under federal indictment for my bad filmmaking—my bad taste in art,” Black said.
Noting that Hustler Video recently released a video that spoofed Kobe Bryant’s trial on rape charges, Black questioned how that was different from his work.
“If one is to follow your reasoning, Kobe Bryant’s charges of rape are considered consensual sex when presented in a slick and couples friendly format, but then, what do I know,” Black said.
The difference between the two producers represents what can be considered the old guard, who fought for the right to produce adult content, and a new guard that is fighting to produce the type of adult content that they choose.
Herewith is the full letter from Rob Black to Larry Flynt’s recent statement.
Dear Larry,
I too, have never been in favor of forced sex, whether real or imagined. I have always promoted consensual sex and practiced consensual sex in my personal life, which the last I checked, was and is reality.
However, I’m a filmmaker, an artist (if I may be so bold) and movies and art are not real. Even the Nixon Administration and the Meese Commission admitted that sex crimes (which are indeed physical abuse) are not brought about by watching pornography any more than men turning into serial killer rapists by watching movies about Ted Bundy or Oscar winning films such as Silence of the Lambs.
I agree that bad taste should not be confused with physical abuse any more than interspecies sex should be confused with physical abuse any more than cinema should be confused with reality.
Therefore, I must assume that sometime between you having your first sexual experience with a chicken and recently making a porn parody of the Kobe Bryant rape case, you have obviously lost your grip on reality. Or maybe, just maybe. one peck on your pecker from a chicken doesn’t mean yes, it means, ‘I’m being raped by a redneck.’
Also, if one is to follow your reasoning, Kobe Bryant’s charges of rape are considered consensual sex when presented in a slick and couples friendly format, but then, what do I know. I’m just under federal indictment for my bad filmmaking—my bad taste in art.
When I go on trial, I’m likely to show up in a diaper and curse the judge. Not that you would understand what that’s all about, sir. Have a nice day.
Sincerely,
Rob Zicari, aka Rob Black
