Porn Industry Wants Bailout Funds?

by Deb Cupples |   Yesterday, Hustler publisher Larry Flint and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Frances said that they plan to ask Congress for $5 billion to bail out the adult-entertainment industry.  Mr. Flint is such a delightful smart a... alec, that's it, smart alec. 

And he's very effective at making political statements.  Remember when he beat Jerry Falwell  in the U.S. Supreme Court?  (See Hustler Magazine v. Falwell)

CNN reports on the tongue-in-cheek, porn-industry bailout:

"'The take here is that everyone and their mother want to be bailed out from the banks to the big three,' said Owen Moogan, spokesman for Larry Flynt. 'The porn industry has been hurt by the downturn like everyone else and they are going to ask for the $5 billion. Is it the most serious thing in the world? Is it going to make the lives of Americans better if it happens? It is not for them to determine.'

"Francis said in a statement that 'the US government should actively support the adult industry's survival and growth, just as it feels the need to support any other industry cherished by the American people....'

"Flynt and Francis concede the industry itself is in no financial danger — DVD sales have slipped over the past year, but Web traffic has continued to grow.

"But the industry leaders said the issue is a nation in need. 'People are too depressed to be sexually active,' Flynt said in the statement. 'This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex.'

"'With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind. It's time for congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America. The only way they can do this is by supporting the adult industry and doing it quickly.'"  (CNN)

No doubt, Mr. Flint knows that there would be very little public support of a porn-industry bailout  -- unless bailout dollars funded free merchandise for those in need. 

Even then, most supporters would end up huddled in a closet with their laptops, pressuring their Congressmen via bogus email addresses.

Memeorandum has commentary.

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