Word: flynt
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Falwell took it very seriously. He sued the X-rated magazine and Publisher Larry Flynt for $45 million, charging them with invasion of privacy, libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In 1984 his privacy claim was thrown out by a federal judge, and a jury found no libel, believing no reasonable person could think that the spoof was being presented as factual. But the jury agreed with Falwell's complaint about emotional distress and awarded the televangelist $200,000. Despite the novelty of the verdict, an appeals court upheld the judgment. The jury's award to Falwell...
Falwell, of course, was none too happy. The court, he said, had "given the green light to Larry Flynt and his like to print what they wish about any public figure at any time with no fear of reprisal." Flynt, always a blunt instrument, has put it more inelegantly: "I think that the First Amendment gives me the right to be offensive." And, to protect more important things, it does...
...parody under discussion last week was aimed not at a Founding Father but at the Rev. Jerry Falwell. In 1983 Hustler magazine had portrayed Falwell in a drunken rendezvous with his mother. Although a lower-court jury cleared Publisher Larry Flynt of libel because the statements were so ridiculous that no one took them as fact, it awarded Falwell $200,000 for his "emotional distress." Despite Hustler's sleazy nature, other publications have joined in support of the appeal. Reason: the legal concept of "emotional distress" might allow public figures to sue the authors of any critical commentary based...
REPORTS on the progress of the trial indicate that some of the participants are finding amusement at the goings-on. Laughter erupted when Flynt's attorney claimed that the intent of Hustler was simply to "Bring (Falwell) down to our level." And Flynt himself argued, "I think the First Amendment gives me the right to be offensive...
Unfortunately, Flynt did not enlighten the court as to why he felt it important to exercise that right. One could suppose it might have something to do with the unholy evil of his black, black soul. But that's just a guess...