Tampa, Florida- Max Hardcore, in a philosophical mood, is still in Tampa. I called him today to get his reaction to the R. Kelly acquittal the moment it was handed down.

“No SHIT!!” exclaims Max a bit flabbergasted, hearing this for the first time. Actually he’s downright stupefied.

“Fuck! Goddamn,” Max goes on, muttering. “ Every witness said it was her!”

“That is fuckin’ amazing,” Max continues, asking me if I ever saw the tape.

“I heard it was available on the Internet,” he remarks.

I said if that’s the case, it’s going to be the most played thing on the ‘Net this weekend.

“Some people are lucky- that’s amazing. I don’t know how he got out of that, Man!” Max continues.

“That’s incredible- I need his lawyer. Max is laughing. “I cannot figure that out. I’m just shocked. Everybody they had up there including a forensic expert all said it was him.”

Including a witness on the stand who claims she had sex multiple times with Kelly and the underage girl.

“Fuck, how do you get out of that one?” Max wants to know. “I don’t know. He’s got something magic going for him, that’s for sure.”

Max elected to remain in Tampa because he had rented a villa for three weeks.

“I figured why rush back?” he says. “I got a whole different deal over here. You know what’s interesting? The drivers around here in the Tampa area – my impression is – are more aggressive than they are in LA. If you can believe that. They just don’t yield at all. It’s, like, fuck you. I didn’t notice it as much down in Miami as I noticed it here.”

Max said he wanted to see the beaches and see things. Just in case.

“Maybe to see as much as I can, and appreciate it more,” he says, in the event. The event being a possible jail sentence.

“That’s one way of looking at it- doing whatever I can,” he says.

“Yesterday I want to the Skyway Bridge. That’s the one that’s got a real unique design. It’s got a single suspension rung down the middle of it. It’s pretty cool. That’s the bridge a long time ago that a ship ran into it and knocked down the center span. A bunch of cars ended up going into a watery grave. Just flying right off the end.”

Speaking of flying off the end, Max said he got a call from Skeeter while he was in the courtroom waiting for the verdict. He gets to that in a moment.

“It’s crazy- you got people deciding a movie’s so unfit because there’s so much violence that no one should be able to see it,” he grunts.

“People have forgotten what the First Amendment is all about, I think. They felt that nobody should see this because of the ‘violence’ and the subject matter.”

Max thought it was also ironic because he came home the night of the verdict and watched Eric Roberts playing a cop on TV, beating the shit out of someone who was handcuffed to a bed.

“They said it was viewer discretion advised because the subject matter may not be appropriate for children,” says Max. “He’s beating this guy in the head- hardest I’ve ever seen on TV. Then he gets out a knife and cuts the guy’s throat. I said, holy fuck. This is okay? Figure that one out.”

I tell Max about my favorite one where Dennis Farina clips a broad in Get Shorty, smashing her in the mouth. And this is a comedy.

I bring up the fact that one of the jurors, as reported, ran up to him crying, ‘we tried.’

My theory is that the jurors didn’t want to remain deadlocked with a weekend coming up, so they elected for a guilty verdict just to get out of Dodge.

“It was 9 against 3 and I don’t know what really went on in that room,” Max replies.

“It’s hard to say being that I’ve never been in that position. But it was pretty heartfelt. The lady was really upset.”

“I was pretty stunned by it all, especially in light of the evidence,” he adds.

“They played it pretty fast and loose with the evidence. Especially of mailing it. And how can you find a minute and a half clip obscene? They’re more comedic than anything. I’m stunned. We got to overturn this thing for the right reasons. If we can. That’s all I hope. Otherwise, I’m ready to go. I know the job was dangerous when I took it. I’ve got no bitch. I’m blaming nobody, either. I’m beyond that.”

“If that’s the case you more than took one for the team, that’s for sure,” I comment.

“You got to pay your dues, man,” Max feels. “I’ll be back.”

Regarding Skeeter, Max said he didn’t have a chance to talk at the time but that Skeeter seemed like he wanted to apologize for past remarks.

“That’s the way it sounded to me,” says Max, noting that he never saw anyone flip out like Skeeter did regarding the story about the police raid. www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=28025

“It was really startling to see that, and I felt bad for him. Maybe he’s calming down.”

Max is taking in a baseball game tonight. The Rays are playing the Florida Marlins.