Racist cartoons


Larry was portrayed as this swell guy but I remember looking at Hustler magazine as a teenager and there were some very racist cartoons in there. As a black person I found them very offensive to the point I actually thought the magazine was owned by someone in the KKK because these racist cartoons -particularly against blacks- were so prevalent and offensive. Was Flynt racist or was I just too young to get the joke?

"You have the right to remain silent, so shut the *beep* up!"

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I'm not expert on Hustler nor Larry Flynt, but I would not be surprised at all to learn that Flynt was/is a borderline racist, at the very least.

However, I think the standards of what is 'acceptable' regarding vilification of a person's race has tightened significantly since the 1970's, meaning what was was acceptable and 'funny' then, would likely get a person branded a rampant racist now, even if the intent was not to harm, but merely to show something that was funny by participating in an activity - casual racism - that was almost universally accepted at the time.

Even now there have been 'calls' (by self-interested lobby groups) to ban Gone with the Wind because it is 'racist' by today's standards.

Having said that, I haven't seen any of the cartoon you have, but if you were offended by them as a (presumably) open-minded teenager, chances are they were a long way on the racist side, and responsibility for that has to go to the boss. Flynt may not have created the cartoons, but her certainly would have approved them.



Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
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Seriously, enough with the racism BS. Everyone is sick of hearing about it.

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To the OP

I Remember seeing those cartoons in those old mags. As I got older I figured hustler was just pandering to the lowest common denominator. Your stereotypiCal lonely white male who can't get any real action, undereducated and socially/racially isolated.

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Agreed.

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When it comes to humour- anything goes. Acceptable then is acceptable now and vice versa.

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You talking about the brown bears doing some tagging while the polar bears look on? If you are offended by that you'd probably kill yourself if you were an Asian person living in America... Grow thicker skin.

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You talking about the brown bears doing some tagging while the polar bears look on? If you are offended by that you'd probably kill yourself if you were an Asian person living in America... Grow thicker skin.
No, like my opening post said, I'm talking about what I read in the past not present day. I'm talking about the 80's a period when you most likely weren't around.

Personally I get sick of millennials like you and laurieann74 talking so much of that "get over it *beep* simply because you're both obviously white and don't know what it's like to be on the receiving end of "real" racism. Of course you both could probably say how some nonwhite guy called you a redneck or cracker once and think you know about racism. You try dealing with racism when it effects your housing, your jobs, your education, your LIFE.

And no, I wouldn't kill myself if I were an Asian person living in America, that's something you might do because you're the one who doesn't have to actually deal with racism. Instead, people like you and laurieann74 get to sit on the sidelines and tell people to get over it and/or get thicker skin.

"You have the right to remain silent, so shut the *beep* up!"

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Dude Asians were banned, lynched, killed in this country. Go look up some of the history and what still goes on today. When you are marginalized as much as Asians are you don't have a voice in America. But you as a Black Man has a much greater population and thus a much greater political power. So keep that in mind. Im just saying that bear cartoon isn't the worst. I do apologize though because I did find worst than that bear cartoon that pissed me off.

Google the one he did about Spike Lee's social conscious movies. What do you expect from a hill billy selling moonshine in Kentucky as a kid? But yeah you are right, I know he had severe issues and didn't always run the magazine but either his brother or staff approved of that...

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I don't think they were meant to be racist per se.

There is a difference between stereotyping and racism. And I think those comics you saw fit the former idea.
(I know what you mean since I saw a couple of issues around that time as well and can remember one cartoon featuring blacks.)
Keep in mind though lots of whites were also the butt of jokes.
Like the regular one, Chester the Molester, was a white.
And there was the monthly feature of A-hole of the month that which I saw were white men.
Does that make it racist against whites?
So both races were equal targets.
It is or was a magazine with very poor taste so I think you are taking it too seriously.
And don't forget that a racist shot Larry because he had a pictorial of a mixed race couple.

Let me know if I'm on your ignore list.
Thanx!

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You think that's bad? Years ago I randomly picked up an issue from '76, and it must've been the worst selection I could make.
Inside were two graphic cartoons featuring little girls holding up their dresses, with their genitals showing. In their X-Rated reviews section there was a photo of a nude pre-pubescent girl, gladly she was "covered" by her hair and hands in those areas. Aside from racist cartoons, there are SEVERAL anti-abortion cartoons going on from his late 70s-80s publications. Doctors screwing newborns, doctors throwing around bloody fetuses, doctors stomping on fetuses, I mean you name it...it was done.
Not to mention his "Chester the Molester" cartoons. I don't recall anything to graphic in those, but there were ones of Chester dressed as santa asking little girls to sit on his lap, hiding in a porto-potty with his face showing after a teen girl got up to leave...
As for racist toons I remember black people portrayed as monkeys, criminals, and stupid mostly...in tradition "big-lipped" fashion.

I get the point he was trying to make, but Playboy had the most engaging articles without succumbing to such tactics. It's completely normal to find these cartoons offensive or shocking today, because they are! Not to mention depictions of kids in those situations are somewhat illegal. He definitely went too far in my opinion.

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I had a black roommate back in the late 1980's I picked up the hustler on the coffee table and he said "I don't like Hustler...they are prejudiced" i said... "No they're not" The first page I turn to in towards the middle was a cartoon of a black man carrying a wheelbarrow to carry his lip. My roommate said..."See i told you"

Before any white person will deny racism try moving in with a black guy first. I witnessed a lot of it when he moved in with me... including white people telling me that I shouldn't be living with a black guy... and they didn't say "black guy" either.

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I don't think Flynt himself was racist, his political views are fairly liberal, he's always criticized the Republicans and religious conservatives for their hypocrisy, he just wanted Hustler to appeal to a lower-class, mostly white audience, unlike Playboy and Penthouse which were more highbrow at the time.

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When it comes to.humour- anything goes.Acceptable then is acceptable now and vice versa.

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Amen to that!

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The Hustler cartoons made fun of everybody, whether it be white, black, brown, yellow, red,Christian,Jew, Muslim, etc etc etc. Flynt was an equal opportunity offender. He published a pictorial with a black man & a white woman that enraged one person (Joseph Paul Franklin) so much that he tried to kill Flynt & nearly succeeded.

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