Brian Doherty | June 5, 2007
Publishing gadfly Larry Flynt of Hustler offers up a cool million for documented evidence of prominent public officials having illicit sex, in an ad in Sunday's Washington Post. Details from Reuters .
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If Flynt/ Hustler pays the one million for the evidence, can they publish it (including photos) with impunity? Legal community?
Again? Or is it still? The only way this gets interesting, is if
a congressman tries to claim it himself.
Most likely scenario: The film shows the back of a woman's head
moving repeatedly towards and away from the camera. The congressman
claims it's his wife going down on him in [insert southern redneck
state] where it's still technically illegal. He sues Flynt for the
money, and the cable news coverage inspires new reality TV
shows.
No matter the consequences, they won't publish late: Flynt don't hesistate.
If Flynt/ Hustler pays the one million for the evidence, can
they publish it (including photos) with impunity? Legal
community?
I don't think whether he paid for the info or not makes any
difference.
The chances of someone getting a prior restraint on publication of
something like this are zero.
The chances of anyone collecting on a libel case are not zero, but
not much higher, depending of course on what is published and how
good the backup is.
So Larry Flynt just set up a $1M retirement fund for any politician who was planning to retire anyway and who chooses to out himself on some minor indiscretion, on the theory that you really can't lower your prestige much below "politician"? Did Flynt think this one through?
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