The film’s notoriety turned its screenings into a national legal battle. In New York, Judge Joel J. Tyler ruled in March 1973 that Deep Throat was obscene, condemning it as “a nadir of decadence” and fining the company operating the World Theater $100,000, though the amount was later reduced on appeal. The more consequential confrontation came in Memphis in 1976, when more than sixty people and companies—including producer Louis Peraino and actor Harry Reems—were indicted for conspiring to distribute obscenity across state lines. Director Gerard Damiano and Lovelace received immunity in exchange for testimony. Reems became a cause célèbre, attracting support from prominent Hollywood figures, and was represented on appeal by attorney Alan Dershowitz. His conviction was overturned after the court applied the Supreme Court’s 1973 Miller test for obscenity. Other defendants were convicted in the FBI’s “Miporn” case, with several receiving prison terms and fines, including Peraino, who was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $10,000, along with additional penalties against his companies.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
The Deep Throat Obscenity Trials That Put an Actor in the Federal Dock
Deep Throat / 1970s
The film’s notoriety turned its screenings into a national legal battle. In New York, Judge Joel J. Tyler ruled in March 1973 that Deep Throat was obscene, condemning it as “a nadir of decadence” and fining the company operating the World Theater $100,000, though the amount was later reduced on appeal. The more consequential confrontation came in Memphis in 1976, when more than sixty people and companies—including producer Louis Peraino and actor Harry Reems—were indicted for conspiring to distribute obscenity across state lines. Director Gerard Damiano and Lovelace received immunity in exchange for testimony. Reems became a cause célèbre, attracting support from prominent Hollywood figures, and was represented on appeal by attorney Alan Dershowitz. His conviction was overturned after the court applied the Supreme Court’s 1973 Miller test for obscenity. Other defendants were convicted in the FBI’s “Miporn” case, with several receiving prison terms and fines, including Peraino, who was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $10,000, along with additional penalties against his companies.
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