There will be plenty to report on the Larry Flynt trial which began yesterday in Cincinnati with jury selection, but U.S. News and World Report devotes a page of its May 10 issue to Flynt's new enterprise, Hustler Hollywood.
Says the article: "About a year ago, in the midst of the Monica-inspired media frenzy, the infamous pornographer and free-speech activist decided that what America needed was a chain of clean, cheerful, upscale, latex-and-latte emporiums."
Though the magazine piece takes light issue with Flynt's contention that "people can come in here with their children," it does acknowledge that Flynt, and the porn industry in general, is going more and more mainstream.
"Like it or not, 'adult entertainment' is one of America's fastest-growing industries," says the article. Attorney Jeffrey Douglas is also quoted.
"The fact that everyone has access to sexually explicit material tends to demystify it and make it less frightening," says Douglas.
There must be a lot of demystification going on because stats quoted by the article claim that overall revenues of adult entertainment-related goods and services including phone sex, novelties, strip clubs, magazine and cable programming exceed over 10 billion of which website commerce accounted for 10% last year.
Flynt, in the article, says he dreams of taking LFP Inc., public but can't find an underwriter.
