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Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis and HUSTLER magazine publisher Larry Flynt are petitioning the newly convened 111th Congress to provide a financial bailout for the adult entertainment industry along the lines of what is being sought by the Big Three automakers.
Adult industry leaders Flynt and Francis sent a joint request to Congress asking for $5 billion in federal assistance, “Just to see us through hard times,” Francis said.
“Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation’s most important businesses, we feel we deserve the same consideration. In difficult economic times, Americans turn to entertainment for relief. More and more, the kind of entertainment they turn to is adult entertainment,” he said.
According to Flynt the recession has acted like a national cold shower. “People are too depressed to be sexually active,” Flynt said. “This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex.”
But with the US Government recently rejecting a request from the three big automakers for a financial bailout, the Adult Entertainment Industry has next to no chance and critics will say this is nothing more than a publicity stunt by Flynt and Francis to prop up company profits which have fallen significantly over the past year.
The Adult Entertainment industry hasn’t just been hit by the effects of the economic downturn, but also by the rapid growth of pornography on the Internet. DVD sales and rentals have decreased by 22 percent in the past year as viewers turn to the internet for adult entertainment. It is estimated that roughly half of all internet users visit adult sites, with the number of unique visitors to adult websites (including GirlsGoneWild.com and Hustler.com) has grown to more than 75 million per month.
No stranger to controversy Larry Flynt said, “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.”
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