[Charlotte Observer]- Representatives for a Charlotte-based distributor of adult films say they support the idea of a federal bailout for the porn industry.

Magazine publisher Larry Flynt and video producer Joe Francis have reportedly called for congressional action to aid their adult entertainment companies weather the economic downturn.

AEBN, a video distributor headquartered in South Charlotte, is not currently asking for federal aid.

Suzann Knuzsen, an AEBN spokesperson, told NewsChannel 36 the adult entertainment companies are facing many of the same economic challenges as U.S. automakers and financial institutions.

Knuzsen says AEBN, which employs 200 people at its facility near Archdale Road, is not immune to a decline in revenues as customers spend less on adult entertainment.

Associated Press report on the proposal:

The pornography industry is the latest to seek a federal bailout, with the heads of Hustler magazine and Girls Gone Wild saying they’ll ask Congress for $5 billion, according to a blog report.

On CNN’s PoliticalTicker blog, Rebecca Sinderbrand and Mark Preston quoted Owen Moogan, a spokesman for Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, as saying, “The take here is that everyone and their mother want to be bailed out from the banks to the Big Three” automakers.

As for the $5 billion the porn purveyors will seek, Moogan said: “Is it the most serious thing in the world? Is it going to make the lives of Americans better if it happens? It is not for them to determine.”

In a statement quoted by PoliticalTicker, Joe Francis, chief executive of Girls Gone Wild, argued that “the U.S. government should actively support the adult industry’s survival and growth, just as it feels the need to support any other industry cherished by the American people.”