If you've been reading/watching CNN or any other news outlet lately, then you know that the economy is dying, the second Great Depression is upon us, eveyone's losing their houses and jobs and Hummers and Bahamian vacays -- the world is pretty much ending. Hey, that's what this blog is about!
Well now it seems that everyone really does have their hand out because Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis are asking for a federal bailout too -- of $5 billion. I guess even Joe and Larry need a stimulus package sometimes.
So Flynt and Francis say that the industry itself is in no financial danger per se, and that Web traffic has continued to grow... but DVD sales have slipped, and worse yet, the American people are too depressed to have sex. Francis says, "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."
So this it seems pretty obvious that this something besides a request for money -- a marketing stunt most likely, or perhaps even a tongue-in-cheek (or whatever) political commentary on the bank and auto federal bailouts.
Surely Larry Flynt and Joe Francis don't actually expect to receive any money, or for Congress to take them seriously. But guess who IS taking them seriously? CNN commenters! Here's a snippet:
Steve writes: "Larry Flint [sic] and Joe Francis jlosing [sic] money is the very least of my worries. If fact [sic], they need to be concerned about losing their souls eternally!!!"
johnc says: "This has got to be the biggest load of crap yet. People losing their jobs, their homes and trying to survive have to listen to these people who tear away at the moral fabric of our culture. The answer should be a resounding NO and GO AWAY."
J writes: "It is a sad, sad day when the porn industry asks for a bailout. I thought they would be doing just fine since thier "products" [sic] and porn can be bought and downloaded for your iPhone, iPod, PSP, yada yada [sic] so on and so forth. Come on America, is this really an industry that we need? Or is this Country going back on its founding principles again? The founding fathers are rolling in thier [sic] graves... I would protest over such a waste of government funding. YOU DONT SEE BROADWAY GETTING A BAILOUT!!!!!! They are closing great shows cause [sic] the American public cant even afford to shell out 120 bucks for some quality entertainment. Shut down a few mags and porn sites Larry. Suffer like the rest of America and adapt."
Most of the 358 comments on this story right now are in this vein. Come on people; wake up and smell the satire.
Via CNN.
Image from Flickr user ClevelandSGS
