The X-Man's Last Stand

Former Hustler editor Alan MacDonell exposes himself.

David Weigel | July 31, 2006

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Reason: During the Clinton saga you quote yourself as saying "Livingston's going to be Speaker of the House. If some scumbag has a picture of him fucking a whore, I want to see it." Talk about that. What was the philosophy motivating you to expose Clinton's tormenters?

AM: Half the country believed Clinton was being persecuted solely on the basis of a sexual indiscretion that should have remained a private matter. The other half of the country believed that the impeachment was about perjury. However, we felt that the half of the country who believed a monumental hypocrisy was at work deserved to have that belief validated.

Here’s a funny thing that didn’t make it into the book. The consulting firm that Larry brought in to help us with the cash-for-confession plan initially didn’t want to make the phone call to Livingston’s putative girlfriend. (When contacted, she hung up on us.) Dan Moldea, who was hired by this consulting firm, only called her after I insisted during a meeting with Larry Flynt.

A few years later, after I’d been fired from Flynt, I was researching a story pitch on military contractors, and I visited our consulting firm’s website. Their board of advisors included the regulation ex-generals, former CIA officials and Bob Livingston. So punking Livingston was a long-shot beyond calculation.

Reason: How much credit should Hustler get for saving Bill Clinton’s ass?

AM: Bob Livingston resigned the same day as the House of Representatives voted to impeach. You look at the front page of the New York Times for that day. The split of the coverage is not precisely 50/50 between Clinton and Livingston, but it’s close. Let’s assume the cable-news split was comparable. Livingston folding sapped the momentum of the impeachment right at the start, at a crucial moment. Maybe the credit should go to Livingston for his impeccable timing.

Reason: There are parts of your biography that could be appropriated by Bill Bennett or someone similar to warn about the dangers of pornography and sin. "Aha! You see? Smut ruined this man's life!" Did working day in and out on the content in Hustler make your life worse?

AM: Well, what ruined Bill Bennett’s life? Some sharpsters once came into my office with sneak video taken at a casino. It showed a guy they said was Bill Bennett shoving token after token into a hundred-dollar slot machine and tossing back cocktails. The dude could hardly hold his big moralizing head up. I’m convinced the man at the slot machine was Bill Bennett, particularly since he was later forced to confess his gambling problem. Do we blame the Book of Virtues for Bennett’s vices?

The content of Hustler, I believe, was largely benign. When I was fired, after practically twenty years’ immersion in so-called addictive sexual imagery, I experienced no withdrawal symptoms, and I have had no subsequent cravings for smut. That said, the endless splayed genitals did wear on me, and perhaps clouded my outlook somewhat, temporarily.

But my life is a far from ruined. I’m married, conventionally, as happily as anybody else. I have ongoing relationships with family, friends and neighbors. The worst damage done was to my job prospects at mainstream publications.

Reason: What's wrong with someone who would work at Larry Flynt Publications for 20 years?

AM: You know, I wrote Prisoner of X addressing that very question, and the answer continues to elude me. I seem like I’m overall okay. But then, the job seemed normal at times. And even Richard Ramirez could come across as a regular guy.