Why Larry Flynt Is Endorsing Hillary Clinton

When Larry Flynt is feeling righteous, he describes himself as a crusader: for civil liberties in general and free speech in particular, against capital punishment, political correctness, and hypocrisy in high places. In more mischievous moments, the sobriquets he applies are earthier, funnier—and more on point. His 1996 autobiography was titled An Unseemly Man: My Life as Pornographer, Pundit, and Social Outcast. The slogan of his quixotic 2003 campaign for the California governorship was “the smut peddler who cares.” But now Bloomberg Politics can exclusively report that the impresario behind the Hustler empire is adding a new element to his persona: Flynt is officially ready for Hillary.

The bestowal of Flynt’s blessing on Clinton occurred this week in his sprawling, surreal aerie—with its jumbled-up mix of American southern and Italianate décor, the place has the look of an unholy, Hollywood Babylon hybrid of Tara and the Uffizi—high above Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Flynt’s people had lured me out West with the promise that he had something of import to say about the Democratic front-runner. It took little prompting to get it out of him. “I’m endorsing Hillary Clinton for president!” Flynt declared.