Larry Flynt, the owner of two Los Angeles poker rooms, a nudie mag, and Las Vegas strip clubs, passed away on Wednesday at age 78. The founder of “Hustler” magazine’s exact cause of death was not disclosed publicly. He passed away at his Hollywood Hills home in Southern California.

Larry Flynt led quite a controversial life, but always stood behind his beliefs. (Image: New York Post)

Flynt is most known around the world as a free speech loving porn peddler who survived a murder attempt in 1978, but was paralyzed from the neck down for life. He was shot in Lawrenceville, Georgia as he walked down the street with his lawyer following a court case.

The incident not only left him partially paralyzed, he suffered excruciating pain for the rest of his life. That caused to become addicted to painkillers. Joseph Paul Franklin, a white supremacist, admitted to the shooting years later. His issue, he claims, was Flynt displaying an interracial couple in “Hustler,” an adult magazine.