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December 7, 1984 KELLY
GARRETT, a witness, after having first been duly sworn, testified as
follows: DIRECT
EXAMINATION * * * Q. Did
you attend any meeting of Hustler
Magazine, at which the subject matter of that ad parody was discussed? A. Yes,
sir. * * * Q. Do
you recall what was said about the ad
parody at that conversation? A. Yes,
sir, I do. * * * Q. Now,
what was involved in that
discussion? A. Okay.
Well, the principal protagonist in the discussion was the
clerk of
counsel, David Kahn. He had asked Mr.
Flynt during that meeting to put in some sort of disclaimer pointing
out that
it was an ad parody. A good deal of
time, and I would say for sure it was over an hour -- possibly 2, maybe
even 3,
was spent arguing the point. Q. What
was the position of Mr. Flynt or the
others who were against that? A. Well,
it was unanimous with the one exception
of Mr. Kahn, that it was inappropriate to put any sort of disclaimer on
it for
reasons that -- it was so obviously a parody that to call it -- point
it out as
such would be superfluous, meaning it would be redundant -- THE
COURT: Why would anybody object, though, to the extra baggage? A. The
reason why we did, we objected -- and I
was one of the principal objectors to this extra baggage -- was that it
had a
detrimental effect on the impact of the humor of the ad, as has been
mentioned
in previous testimony, I
couldn't help but hear sitting back
there. When you point to a joke and call
it a joke, it takes away from the joke.
And since everyone in the room liked this parody and
thought it was
funny, and successfully as a parody, and the spirit of the magazine at
the time
was very enthusiastic -- to do good stuff.
Mr. Flynt had just returned from an absence, -- the
general opinion in
the room was to not do anything that would take away from the impact of
the
parody. That's why there was that sort
of objection to the excess baggage. * * * Q. Did
anybody in the room voice the concern
that a Hustler reader would take this ad parody as conveying truthful
information about Jerry Falwell? * * * A. Nobody
expressed anything of the kind. * * * CROSS-EXAMINATION Q. I
gather that the idea for putting that
little line "ad parody" was not Mr. Flynt's idea, am I right? A. It
wasn't proposed at that meeting by Mr.
Flynt, it was proposed by Mr. Kahn, so I assumed it was not -- Q. The
proponent was Mr. Kahn, not Mr. Flynt, am
I right? A. To
put that disclaimer on, yes, sir. Q. And
in the course of the length of time that
you were discussing that line that
Mr. Kahn was vociferously suggesting be there, was there a
consideration that
perhaps Reverend Falwell would sue Hustler if this ad ran in its pages? A. Mr.
Kahn pointed out the possibility that
that would happen, because it has happened before. Q. And
had it happened before? Are you speaking
about Mr. Falwell suing? A. Yeah. * * * Q. Mr.
Garrett, you'd been working for Hustler
Magazine or Flynt Publications for how many years prior to August of
1983? A. Since
August 1st, 1979. I guess that would be 4. Q. So
that's about 4 years? A. Yes,
sir. Q. You
said that everyone at the meeting thought
the proposed ad was funny. In the 3 hour
discussion, did anyone suggest that perhaps some people might not think
it was
funny? A. No,
sir. Q. You
mean everybody at that meeting thought it
was hilarious that it should be suggested that Jerry Falwell committed
incest
with his mother, drank alcoholic beverages and got sloshed before he
went into
the pulpit? Is that what you're -- A. Everyone
at the meeting thought it was
funny. Let me amend my last answer. Everyone at the meeting did not necessarily
say that everyone would think it was funny, but
they did indicate that no one would take it as anything but
attempted humor. That's -- naturally,
what's funny to one person isn't funny to everybody. |