Flynt, who was interviewed by King for the opening 30 minutes of the program, was energetic, gracious and disarmingly honest. He freely admitted that, despite the fact that Falwell and he disagreed on just about everything, after he got to know the televangelist he came to not only like him but also periodically reached out to help him.
“My mother told me,” Flynt said, “Son, you will meet people that you don't like, but when you finally meet them in person you will always find characteristics about them that you do like, and I think Reverend Falwell falls into that category.”
When King asked him how he found out about Falwell’s death, Flynt said he found out when he woke up and turned on the television.
“What was your first reaction?” asked King.
“It didn't surprise me,” Flynt said. “He [Falwel] was close to 400 pounds, and at 70-odd-years, anyone knows you don't carry around that kind of weight at that age.”
In response to a question about whether he had ever raised the issue of Falwell’s weight with him, Flynt replied, “Yes, I talked to him. I gave him a couple of diets. I even faxed them to his wife. And he just loved to eat, you know.”
Flynt also talked about how important, indeed seminal, his legal battle with Falwell was in 1988 when Falwell sued Hustler over a 1983 cartoon parody of the preacher that was published in Hustler magazine. That case, Hustler Magazine, Inc. vs. Falwell, eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where a 8-0 majority ruled in Huslter’s favor. Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote the landmark opinion that strengthened free speech rights in relation to parodies of public figures.
“I think the justices were smart enough to know that it would have left the 1st Amendment in shambles had they upheld Falwell's decision,” Flynt told King.
King played several clips from an earlier Larry King show that featured Falwell and Flynt, a “historic” meeting that occurred shortly after the release of the movie “The People versus Larry Flynt.” King recalled how the CNN staff anticipated a “battle royale,” and Flynt agreed that he also expected “a fight that night.” In the end, however, Falwell’s charm completely disarmed Flynt on the air, something the publisher readily admitted.
“He put his arm around me and started hugging me,” he said. “He put another hand on my leg, you know, and I'm thinking, where is this guy really coming from? So he really disarmed me in the sense that there was not that much I could say. So I just let him do his thing.”
Flynt recounted that Falwell showed up unannounced one day after that show at his office in Beverly Hills, California.
“He wanted to talk,” Flynt said. “He came back and sat down in my office. We spent two hours talking, and we did a lot of reminiscing about the case, and he [Falwell] thinks he understands the issue better now, and probably would not have gone through it if he had to go through it again.”
In response to an email question from a viewer asking what the two men had in common, Flynt answered, “I think he cared about people, and I cared about people … and I don't think Falwell was mean-spirited at all, at all.
”But you talk to the adamant leaders and gay rights [leaders] and the women's movement [leaders] and everything, and they [are] just shrill at the mention of his name. But there were two sides to him. There was a dichotomy. You know, one side was just sort of like a character of himself. He was a very complex individual.”
