Robin Byrd took cable to the Supreme Court — and won

Before there was YouTube or OnlyFans, Robin Byrd built a late-night following on public access Channel J from 1977 to 1998, inviting porn stars, strippers and downtown deviants. When cable provider Time Warner tried to scramble adult content unless subscribers requested it, Byrd and Screw magazine publisher Al Goldstein filed a lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court.

The Court ruled the company's demands violated the First Amendment. A new documentary, "Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story," co-produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, premieres Tuesday on HBO. Directed by Jyllian Gunther and Stephanie Schwam, the film looks back at Byrd's life as a Manhattan icon who promoted safe sex during the AIDS crisis and closed each episode with the "Bang My Box" theme, a group dance and often a live striptease.

Raised on the Upper East Side, Byrd lost her adoptive father at eight and says the woman she calls her "Mommie Dearest" threw her out at 13; she spent days in Central Park before moving in with friends and a boyfriend.

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