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Thread: Giancarlo Granda accuses Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.(58) and Becky Falwell (53) of using him in a Sex Scandal

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    Giancarlo Granda accuses Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.(58) and Becky Falwell (53) of using him in a Sex Scandal

    https://www.reuters.com/investigates...-relationship/

    WASHINGTON ? In a claim likely to intensify the controversy surrounding one of the most influential figures in the American Christian conservative movement, a business partner of Jerry Falwell Jr has come forward to say he had a years-long sexual relationship involving Falwell?s wife and the evangelical leader.

    Giancarlo Granda says he was 20 when he met Jerry and Becki Falwell while working as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012. Starting that month and continuing into 2018, Granda told Reuters that the relationship involved him having sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell looked on.

    Granda showed Reuters emails, text messages and other evidence that he says demonstrate the sexual nature of his relationship with the couple, who have been married since 1987. ?Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,? Granda said in an interview. Now 29, he described the liaisons as frequent ? ?multiple times per year? ? and said the encounters took place at hotels in Miami and New York, and at the Falwells? home in Virginia.

    His friendship with the Falwells eventually soured, Granda told Reuters, in part because he wanted to dissolve his ties with the couple and fell into a business dispute with them.

    Granda first emerged as a figure in the Falwells? circle two years ago, when BuzzFeed News reported that the couple had befriended Granda and gone into business with him, buying a Miami Beach youth hostel in 2013. At the time of the BuzzFeed article, a representative of the Falwell family said Granda was ?offered a share? in Alton Hostel LLC because Granda lived in Miami and would act as a manager of the youth hostel. Corporate records show that Granda currently has a stake in that venture.

    Becki Falwell did not respond to emails or phone and text messages from Reuters. After Reuters presented its initial reporting early last week to the Falwells, a lawyer for Jerry Falwell, Michael Bowe, said the evangelical leader ?categorically denies everything you indicated you intend to publish about him.?

    On Sunday night, however, as Reuters was preparing to publish this article, Jerry Falwell issued a statement to the Washington Examiner in which he said that his wife had had an affair with Granda and that Granda had been trying to extort money from the couple over the matter. Granda denies any such intent, saying he was seeking to negotiate a buyout from a business arrangement he says he had with the couple.

    Falwell?s statement Sunday to the Examiner said nothing about Granda?s account alleging that the evangelical leader had his own role in the affair, and Falwell didn?t address questions from Reuters about it. In the statement quoted by the Examiner, Falwell said that ?Becki had an inappropriate personal relationship with this person, something in which I was not involved.?

    Several hours after the Reuters article appeared, the Washington Post and other U.S. media reported that Falwell had stepped down as head of Liberty University, the Christian school he has run since 2007. But later Monday, Falwell disputed those accounts. ?I have not resigned,? he told Politico. ?I will be on indefinite leave.?

    Liberty and Falwell did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on his status.

    Falwell, 58, had taken an indefinite leave of absence earlier this month from Liberty. That step, announced in a terse statement from the school?s board of trustees, came days after Falwell posted, then deleted, an Instagram photo of himself with his pants unzipped, standing with his arm around a young woman whose pants were also partly undone. Falwell later told a local radio station that the picture was meant as a good-natured joke.

    If Falwell does step down, his departure from that high-profile perch would represent a remarkable fall from grace for a man who has been a potent force in American conservative politics. His surprise 2016 endorsement of Donald Trump helped the twice-divorced New Yorker win the Republican nomination for president.

    Becki Falwell, 53, is a political figure in her own right. She served on the advisory board of the group Women for Trump, which advocates for the president?s reelection campaign. She also spoke as part of a panel with her husband and Donald Trump Jr at last year?s Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, the signature annual gathering of conservatives. Jerry Falwell and others refer to her as ?the first lady of Liberty University.?

    The university, based in Lynchburg, Virginia, was founded in 1971 by Falwell?s televangelist father, the Rev. Jerry Falwell. The younger Falwell took over in 2007. Today, the university boasts an online and on-campus enrollment that exceeds 100,000 students and holds those who attend to an exacting honor code. ?Sexual relations outside of a biblically ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman are not permissible at Liberty University,? the code reads.

    The material Granda showed Reuters includes screenshots from what Granda said was a FaceTime conversation he had with the Falwells in 2019. During that call, Granda said, Becki was naked as the two discussed their relationship while Jerry peeked from behind a door. Reuters was able to verify Granda?s description of the screenshots.

    Granda also shared an audio recording that he says captures a conversation he had with the Falwells in 2018. In it, Becki complained about Granda describing his relationships with other people: ?He?s like telling me every time he hooks up with people. Like I don?t have feelings or something.? Jerry then chimed in: ?You?re going to make her jealous.? ?I?m not trying to do that,? Granda replied.

    Earlier texts show a friendly and romantic dynamic between Granda and Becki Falwell. One 2012 text message, which Granda said came from Becki, read in part: ?Right now I am just missing you like crazy .... Have you had this effect on all of your lady friends??

    Other more recent text messages, such as an exchange from this June that Granda provided to Reuters, show Granda growing angry and frustrated as his relationship with the Falwells frayed.

    ?Since you?re okay with ruining my life, I am going to take the kamikaze route,? Granda wrote to Jerry Falwell. ?It really is a shame because I wanted to reach a peaceful resolution and just move on with our lives but if conflict is what you want, then so be it.?


    In the same message string, Falwell replied: ?You should by now understand that I will not be extorted. I have always treated you fairly and been restrained in response to your threats because I did not wish to ruin your life. Going forward, stop contacting me and my family.?

    Granda said that while he entered into the sexual relationship with the Falwells willingly, today he feels the couple preyed upon him. ?Whether it was immaturity, na?vet?, instability, or a combination thereof, it was this ?mindset? that the Falwells likely detected in deciding that I was the ideal target for their sexual escapades,? Granda said.

    In a statement released Friday, before news of the relationship with Granda became public, Liberty University said its ?decision whether or not to retain Falwell as president has not yet been made.? Its board of trustees, the statement read, ?requested prayer and patience as they seek the Lord?s will and also seek additional information for assessment.?

    Editor?s note: This story was updated after publication to reflect conflicting news reports that Jerry Falwell Jr had stepped down from Liberty University.


    Folks Hypocrisy Sells. And its given that Jerry Falwell is a Trump Donor.

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    https://apnews.com/66b918c2f683c3de59803d0dc0324468

    RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Jerry Falwell Jr.’s future at evangelical Liberty University was unclear late Monday, with a senior school official saying he had resigned from his leadership post but Falwell telling several news outlets that he does not plan to leave permanently.

    A formal announcement from the school was expected later in the day, according to the school official, who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. The disclosure of Falwell’s resignation followed the publication of news stories about his wife’s sexual encounters with a much younger business partner.

    On Monday night, attorneys for Falwell and the school were negotiating the details of a possible departure, according to a person close to the school’s board of trustees who also spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss it.

    But several news outlets quoted Falwell as saying that he has not agreed to leave the post permanently, nor does he plan to.

    Falwell, who was already on an indefinite leave of absence, did not return a call from the AP seeking comment.

    The uncertainty developed a day after Falwell issued a statement to The Washington Examiner publicly disclosing that his wife had an extramarital affair and saying the man involved had been threatening to reveal the relationship “to deliberately embarrass my wife, family, and Liberty University unless we agreed to pay him substantial monies.”

    Falwell said he was seeking mental health counseling after dealing with fallout from the affair, which he said he had no role in.

    “Over the course of the last few months this person’s behavior has reached a level that we have decided the only way to stop this predatory behavior is to go public,” the statement said.

    But hours before the school official confirmed Falwell’s resignation, Reuters reported that he knew of his wife’s affair and participated in some of the liaisons as a voyeur. The news agency based the information on an interview with Giancarlo Granda, whom they identified as the man involved in the affair.

    Falwell, an early and ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, began a leave of absence from the university on Aug. 7 after an uproar sparked by a photo he posted on social media showing him with his pants unzipped, stomach exposed and arm high around the waist of his wife’s pregnant assistant. Falwell has said the photo was taken at a costume party during a family vacation.

    Critics of the photo said it was evidence of hypocritical behavior from the leader of a university where students must follow a strict code of conduct that includes modest dress and a ban on alcohol consumption and premarital sex.

    The possible break with Falwell came amid growing calls for an overhaul of leadership at the school, where alumni recently launched a campaign urging him to step aside.

    “I really think the board of directors should have done this a long time ago, and if there’s anybody who needs to go next, it needs to be them,” said Maina Mwaura, a Liberty graduate who helped organize a June letter from Black alumni criticizing Falwell.

    “This school has become the laughingstock of the country,” Mwaura added, noting that the board could have prevented the current furor had it acted more quickly to rein in Falwell. The founder’s son was given a long leash for poor behavior, Mwaura said, “because he was the rainmaker” who brought in significant financial resources.

    Falwell’s work to shore up Liberty’s finances after taking over as president in 2007 bolstered his already significant goodwill among the school’s board members, several of whom were close to his late father. But as the younger Falwell’s propensity toward divisive public behavior grew — and particularly after his endorsement of Trump in early 2016 — dissatisfaction built up with what some critics saw as a shift toward being conservative first and Christian second.

    ___

    Schor reported from New York.

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    https://nypost.com/2020/08/24/jerry-...-wife-jealous/

    Jerry Falwell Jr. warned the pool boy his wife was having an affair with not to make her jealous with stories of other hook-ups, according to audio of their phone call published Monday.

    The pool boy in question, 29-year-old Giancarlo Granda, provided to Reuters a recording of the 2018 call, in which he and the couple discussed Becki Falwell?s envy at him dating other women.

    ?Gian?s been very busy lately? His new thing is like telling me every time he hooks up with people, like I don?t have feelings or something,? Becki can be heard saying.

    Jerry chimes in: ?You?re going to make her jealous, Gian.?

    His wife then says she was in tears ?for a whole freakin? day? after Granda told her he?d been with a Tinder date and ordered the woman an Uber home.

    ?Come on? You don?t care about me,? Granda responds, though Becki indicates that?s not the case.

    ?I just tell you ?cause you?re my best friend,? Granda then says.

    Becki replies: ?I know. I?m trying to be OK.. accepting that position?.?

    ?I?ve taken a lot. I?ve moved on. I?ve matured. Matured,? she says, ?I?m not as crazy as I used to be, I think.?

    Jerry, the son of late famed televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr., on Sunday said in a statement to the Washington Examiner that he and Becki were being extorted by a former pool boy who had an affair with his wife.

    The religious-right Bible-thumper claimed he was not involved in the pair?s illicit romps.

    But Granda said not only was Jerry aware of his wife?s sexcapades, he enjoyed watching them.

    His future as president of the evangelical Liberty University was uncertain as of Monday evening. A senior school official told the Associated Press that Falwell had stepped down and an announcement was forthcoming ? but Falwell told Politico that he hasn?t agreed to leave the post.

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    Its funny how the more "Morally Superior" the person is the more deranged and insane they are. Yes I include both Joel Greenberg and now Jerry Falwell on the list.

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    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKCN1SD2JG

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Months before evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr.’s game-changing presidential endorsement of Donald Trump in 2016, Falwell asked Trump fixer Michael Cohen for a personal favor, Cohen said in a recorded conversation reviewed by Reuters.

    Falwell, president of Liberty University, one of the world’s largest Christian universities, said someone had come into possession of what Cohen described as racy “personal” photographs — the sort that would typically be kept “between husband and wife,” Cohen said in the taped conversation.

    According to a source familiar with Cohen’s thinking, the person who possessed the photos destroyed them after Cohen intervened on the Falwells’ behalf.

    The Falwells, through a lawyer, declined to comment for this article.

    Cohen, who began a three-year prison sentence this week for federal campaign violations and lying to Congress, recounted his involvement in the matter in a recording made surreptitiously by comedian Tom Arnold on March 25. Portions of the recording — in which Cohen appeared to disavow parts of his guilty plea — were first reported April 24 by The Wall Street Journal.

    The Falwells enlisted Cohen’s help in 2015, according to the source familiar with Cohen’s thinking, the year Trump announced his presidential candidacy. At the time, Cohen was Trump’s confidant and personal lawyer, and he worked for the Trump Organization.

    The Falwells wanted to keep “a bunch of photographs, personal photographs” from becoming public, Cohen told Arnold. “I actually have one of the photos,” he said, without going into specifics. “It’s terrible.”

    Cohen would later prove successful in another matter involving Falwell, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Cohen helped persuade Falwell to issue his endorsement of Trump’s presidential candidacy at a critical moment, they said: just before the Iowa caucuses. Falwell subsequently barnstormed with Trump and vouched for the candidate’s Christian virtues.

    Reuters has no evidence that Falwell’s endorsement of Trump was related to Cohen’s involvement in the photo matter. The source familiar with Cohen’s thinking insisted the endorsement and the help with the photographs were separate issues.

    Cohen’s connection to the Falwells sheds light on the formidable alliance between Trump and a man who, through his university, is one of the most influential evangelical figures in America. Falwell’s backing helped galvanize evangelicals and persuaded many Christians concerned about Trump’s past behavior to embrace him as a repentant sinner.

    Falwell’s support for Trump has not wavered throughout the New York celebrity-politician’s own tribulations, including the Access Hollywood recording of Trump talking about grabbing women’s genitals and payoffs made by Cohen to hide Trump’s extramarital affairs. This past weekend, Falwell tweeted that “Trump should have 2 yrs added to his 1st term” to make up for the two years of the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

    BLOCKBUSTER ENDORSEMENT
    Falwell’s endorsement of Trump, however, did surprise some students and staff at Liberty University, the school in Lynchburg, Virginia, founded by Falwell’s father, Jerry. It was at Liberty where fellow Republican presidential candidate and major Trump rival Ted Cruz had chosen to launch his campaign the previous year. Cruz’s father was an evangelical preacher, much like Falwell’s father; Trump has been married three times and divorced twice. For years, prior to running for president, Trump boasted of his sexual exploits and supported a host of social positions, such as abortion rights, that run counter to beliefs espoused by Falwell.

    Although Falwell declined interview requests for this story, he has said repeatedly that he endorsed Trump because Trump was the strongest candidate, had significant experience running a business, and had the right vision for the country.

    The connection between Trump and Falwell goes back years. In 2012, Trump gave the convocation at Liberty University. One link between Trump and the couple appears to have been Cohen, a now-disbarred New York lawyer who formed a close bond with the Falwells.

    During the campaign, Cohen worked closely with Liberty University to help promote Trump’s candidacy. It was around that time that Cohen heard from the Falwells about the photographs, said the source familiar with Cohen’s thinking.

    The Falwells told Cohen that someone had obtained photographs that were embarrassing to them, and was demanding money, the source said. Reuters was unable to determine who made the demand. The source said Cohen flew to Florida and soon met with an attorney for the person with the photographs. Cohen spoke with the attorney, telling the lawyer that his client was committing a crime, and that law enforcement authorities would be called if the demands didn’t stop, the source said.

    The matter was soon resolved, the source said, and the lawyer told Cohen that all of the photographs were destroyed.

    Slideshow (3 Images)
    Months later, in early 2016, Trump faced what seemed like an enormous challenge. The Iowa caucus was coming up, and Cohen — then deeply loyal to Trump — was concerned about how Trump would fare, the source said. Cohen felt Trump “was being slaughtered in that community,” and “didn’t want to see him embarrassed or, you know, without support,” said the source familiar with Cohen’s thinking. Cohen repeatedly reached out to Jerry Falwell, and pleaded with him to back Trump, the source said.

    Soon after, according to this account, Falwell made his historic announcement. “I am proud to offer my endorsement of Donald J. Trump for President of the United States,” Falwell was quoted saying in a statement issued by the Trump campaign. “He is a successful executive and entrepreneur, a wonderful father and a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again.”

    Michael Cohen is named in the Giancarlo Granda/Becki Falwell and Jerry Falwell allegations too.

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    https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/26/us/je...ent/index.html

    (CNN)Jerry Falwell, Jr., the former president of Liberty University, will receive a $10.5 million compensation package from the evangelical school, he told CNN.

    Fallwell, who resigned late Monday after a series of scandals, said he will receive about $2.5 million during the next two years and another $8 million thereafter. As the university's president and chancellor, Falwell was paid about $1.25 million per year.
    Falwell told The Washington Post his Liberty contract entitles him to the severance package because he is departing the school without being formally accused of or admitting to wrongdoing.
    The embattled evangelical leader resigned from the evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, a day after reports surfaced that he and his wife took part in a longtime sexual relationship with a former hotel pool attendant. The school said Tuesday it had accepted Falwell's resignation, effective immediately.

    Falwell's departure from the school his late father founded came after a tumultuous 24 hours filled with conflicting reports about his fate. On Monday, the university said Falwell had agreed to resign as Liberty's president but then withdrew his resignation later that day.
    Former Liberty University professor: Happy truth is out

    Former Liberty University professor: Happy truth is out 01:13
    Falwell in recent years has been one of the country's most prominent evangelicals and was an early and ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, who spoke at Liberty's commencement ceremonies in 2017.
    The son of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who died in 2007, Falwell Jr. raised the school's profile -- and finances -- considerably as president.
    Liberty now boasts a $1.6 billion endowment and its board of trustees, in accepting Falwell's recognition, praised his business acumen. During his time as president, according to the board, Falwell oversaw more than $1 billion in construction projects, transforming its campus into one with "world-class academic buildings and athletics facilities."
    Falwell also helped raise enrollment to more than 100,000 students, including both residential and online students, the Liberty board said.
    "The university's heartfelt prayers are with him and his family as he steps away from his life's work," Liberty said Tuesday in a statement.
    The last few months brought a series of public controversies about Falwell's behavior.
    Most recently, a young Miami man went public with allegations that he was involved in sexual activities with the Falwells from 2012 until 2019. The man, Giancarlo Granda, told CNN that Falwell frequently looked on while Granda had sex with Falwell's wife Becki.
    In a statement, Falwell Jr. acknowledged the affair but said that he was "not involved."
    "I am now dealing with things in a way that I should have done before," he said, "including seeking to address the emotional toll this has taken."
    Falwell also said that Granda had tried to blackmail he and his wife, a charge that Granda denies.
    Former Liberty University professor Karen Swallow Prior told CNN Tuesday she's grateful that Falwell is gone and the school can move forward.
    "There have been red flags for a long time," she said about Falwell's tenure. "The kind of arrogance and authoritarian leadership that we experienced as faculty was really just a symptom of this lifestyle that obviously was one in which he thought that he could do anything and get away with it."

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    Quote Originally Posted by raisedbywolves View Post
    Oh, I have a feeling it won't be women coming forward to talk of their affair with ol Jerry. Even with Giancarlo I have a feeling that both of them were enjoying his wares.
    I swear I remember back in the 1990's Jerry Falwell's family used to have feuds with Ellen Degeneres over the fact that she was born LGBT and back before she got bigger fame and fell down the same rabbit hole today. I guess 25 years later the Falwells and Degeneres are on the same side and its not for good reasons both are accused of abuse of power allegations as seen here.

    https://greensboro.com/despite-the-f...b5c732c3c.html

    Before we begin, let me give vent to a song that's been rambling around my head: Diana Ross chirping, ``I'm coming out! I want the world to know, got to let it show!'


    I've always hated that song. Nor am I particularly fond of ``Ellen,' the ABC sitcom which, in recent months, has made coming out a long, tiresome tease. It had been my intention to let the big look-at-me-I'm-a-lesbian episode slip by like the overinflated gasbag of hype that it is.Now I have no choice but to watch the April 30 telecast, because if there's anything I hate more than an overinflated gasbag of hype, it's an overinflated gasbag of self-righteousness. Meaning, of course, the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

    It seems the Rev. Jerry pressured General Motors, Chrysler and Johnson & Johnson to withdraw their sponsorship of the show. All three, displaying the courage and conviction for which American business is renowned, promptly folded like an auto club map.

    ``It's important,' Falwell crowed, ``for us to do our part during the upcoming 'Ellen' broadcast where the character of Ellen Morgan, played by Ellen DeGeneres - some have said 'DeGenerate' - announces her lesbianism.'

    I guess he's right; all the world's a stage, and we all have our parts to play. So DeGeneres plays the gay Jackie Robinson, Falwell the intolerant yahoo. And your humble correspondent shall herein assay the role of the calm, dispassionate voice of reason.

    Not.

    I mean, the way I figure it, since Jerry was kind enough to paint concentric circles on his butt and bend over, it'd be downright rude of me not to call him an atavistic, dogmatic fool. For starters.

    What do you suppose Falwell - some have said 'Fedwell' - thinks is going to happen the day after Ellen leaves the closet? Here, as I see it, is the scenario that troubles him: Nation sees lesbian on television; nation realizes she has no horns, hooves or tail; nation finds her goofy and likable, but otherwise unremarkable; nation fears gays a little less.

    No wonder Falwell - some have said 'Fraudwell' - wants to nip this in the bud. Fear is his stock in trade, a pillar of his power. Thus anything that reduces fear reduces him, diminishes his ability to prey upon the pious ignorance of his followers.

    Falwell - some have said 'Foulwell' - is a hate-monger, pure and simple. How do I scorn him? Let me count the gays.

    I scorn him for the boy I grew up with and for the teacher I had in 10th grade, for the woman who works in my office and the waiter who served me lunch the other day. And for Johnnie Mae and Ray, two guys who lived down the street when I was a kid. The adults would waggle their hands and call them ``funny,' but otherwise didn't seem terribly troubled by their presence.

    And somehow, I survived unharmed.

    So what's the big deal? Why does Falwell or anyone else care so much about ``Ellen?'

    Because she's television. By the skewed reasoning of our media-addled age, a thing is not quite there until you see it on the tube.

    For all the ways in which the medium has fragmented in the last 30 years, it is still the communal altar, the authority that confers validation.

    Thus, it is crucial ground in the battle for hearts and minds.

    But it's still only TV.

    Some people fail to understand that, forget to remember that it's just a mirror of life and not life itself.

    When Mississippians fought ``Sesame Street' because it showed black children playing alongside white, and when men railed against ``Cagney and Lacey' for its portrayal of forceful women, they were boxing shadows, trying to hit substance.

    Meanwhile, progress comes.

    And those who attempt to hold it back are inevitably flattened, left looking quaint and foolish as they recede in history's rear view.

    Jerry Falwell - some have said 'sanctimonious homophobe' - will surely suffer that fate.

    And the rest of us will find it hard to remember what all the fuss was about.

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    https://www.foxnews.com/us/miami-poo...ident-predator

    The twisted plot in the tawdry tale of Jerry Falwell Jr. and a former Miami pool boy took yet another turn Wednesday after Giancarlo Granda called the former Liberty University president "a predator" and claimed Falwell Jr. sent the now 29-year-old a picture of a student exposing herself and had participated in three-way video calls earlier this year.

    Granda also pushed back on allegations that he was blackmailing the couple.

    "The Falwells would have you believe that I seduced Becki [Falwell] into an affair without Jerry's knowledge and then spent the intervening seven years trying to extort them," Granda told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday. "Of course, the truth is, they approached me. She invited me into their hotel room."

    Fallwell Jr. did not immediately return Fox News' requests for comment on Wednesday.

    Granda said he was engaged in a long-term relationship with Falwell Jr. and his wife, Becki, in which Granda engaged in sexual acts with Becki while Falwell Jr. looked on.

    Falwell Jr. has refuted that claim and pinned the blame on his wife. He said he was hyper-focused on Liberty University after taking over as president in 2007 and that it likely led to his wife's indiscretion.

    "During that time, I kind of neglected my wife and kids because I was so immersed in Liberty and making sure it was successful, and that's probably what caused Becki's mistake," he told NPR.


    He also said Granda became obsessive and that the situation turned into a "fatal attraction" and that Granda had threatened to expose the affair.

    Falwell Jr. claimed that the threat triggered an emotional roller coaster for his family ahead of his resignation from the high-profile collegiate post. He also claimed they were "suffering in silence" while "simultaneously trying to manage and deal with this increasingly threatening behavior, which only worsened over time."

    The Falwells met Granda when he was 20 years old and working as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012.

    "Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room" Granda said in an interview with Reuters. He described the meet-ups as frequent -- "multiple times per year" -- and said they took place at hotels in Miami and New York and at the Falwells' home in Virginia.

    The fallout from Granda's allegations, as well as a series of other personal scandals, clouded Falwell Jr.'s chances of ever returning as president of the conservative Christian college in Virginia.

    JERRY FALWELL JR. MAY BE OWNED $10.5M BY LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

    On Tuesday, Falwell confirmed that he resigned from his post.

    The Lynchburg, Va.-based university was founded by Falwell Jr.'s late father, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., and abides by a strict conduct code that states sexual activity is only permitted between one man and one woman within marriage.

    CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

    Falwell Jr.'s departure comes after he agreed earlier this month to take an indefinite leave of absence for posting a picture of himself with a young woman on a yacht whose zipper was undone. She was his wife's assistant.

    In June, Falwell Jr. came under fire after tweeting a racist yearbook photo of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam wearing blackface.

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    I bet they're swingers.
    Quote Originally Posted by Boston Babe 73 View Post
    I don't have a thousand dollars hanging around to buy a fart in a jar lol.

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    Quote Originally Posted by raisedbywolves View Post
    Oh, I have a feeling it won't be women coming forward to talk of their affair with ol Jerry. Even with Giancarlo I have a feeling that both of them were enjoying his wares.
    This sounds like something straight out of the Playboy Forum - wife screws the pool boy while hubby hides in the closet and watches... and occasionally joins in.
    You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
    ...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...

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    Now the question here is who is the second accuser (Student) that Mr. Granda is indicating that "exposed herself" under Jerry Falwell and Becky Falwell's orders. That person might come forward at some point. This is a sign that Mr. Granda is not the only accuser at play here.

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    I think it's gross having sex with someone your parents' age.
    Quote Originally Posted by Boston Babe 73 View Post
    I don't have a thousand dollars hanging around to buy a fart in a jar lol.

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    Update there is now a second accuser on the Falwells. This allegation happened in 2008.

    A former Liberty University student says Becki Falwell, the wife of the university?s then-President Jerry Falwell Jr., jumped into bed with him and performed oral sex on him while he stayed over at the Falwell home after a band practice with her eldest son in 2008.

    The student was 22 at the time of the encounter, near the start of Liberty?s fall semester. He said she initiated the act, and he went along with it. But despite his rejection of further advances, he said, Falwell continued pursuing him, offering him gifts and engaging in banter through Facebook messages.

    ?She was the aggressor,? he said.

    The messages, screenshots of which were provided by the former student to POLITICO, suggest a flirtatious relationship that went beyond what might be expected of a mother communicating with her son?s bandmate.

    One referenced a mutual friend who ?said that she wants you to cut [your] bangs when you get your hair cut. I think that you are beautiful just like you are,? Becki Falwell wrote in a message sent in September 2008. ?You don?t want to cover up those killer eyes of yours and you know the bandana drives me wild ? 🙂?

    In another, sent in December 2008, after the student says he made clear he did not want any romantic involvement with Falwell, she wrote: ?Maybe time will heal whatever wounds that I have caused and your Christian heart will allow you to forgive me.?

    In a statement, Jerry and Becki Falwell said of the former student?s allegations, ?It is unfortunate that the coverage of our departure has turned into a frenzy of false and fantastic claims about us. These false and mean spirited lies have hurt us and our family greatly and we will respond fully with the truth at an appropriate time. At this time, however, we think it is best to move on and help the Liberty community focus on its very bright future??



    Another member of the former student?s band, who spoke to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity, said the student told him of the oral-sex encounter with Becki Falwell within a month of it occurring. Two former Liberty University employees, also speaking under a condition of anonymity, recalled that the band members practiced at the Falwell Farm in 2008, but did not know of the alleged encounter between Falwell and the former student.

    The allegation by the former student casts light on the behavior of Jerry and Becki Falwell, who have been under intense scrutiny for inappropriate relationships and misuse of their positions at the university. On Sunday, Jerry Falwell Jr. acknowledged that Becki had had an affair with Giancarlo Granda, a pool attendant at the Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach with whom they entered a real estate deal. Granda told POLITICO and other outlets that the affair began when he was 20 and continued for seven more years, during which time her husband sometimes watched him and Becki have sex.

    Earlier this summer, the couple was vacationing with friends and family aboard a yacht owned by a Liberty University supporter when Jerry posted and quickly deleted a photo of himself with his pants unzipped and arm around Becki?s assistant. POLITICO has also reported that Liberty has given a contract to a company owned by the Falwells? son and sold property to friends and family without always making proper tax disclosures.

    Jerry Falwell Jr. resigned as Liberty president on Tuesday, in exchange for a severance package worth $10.5 million, two days after his acknowledgment of Becki?s affair with Granda.

    Granda, however, was not a student. At Liberty University, students aren?t allowed to have sex outside of marriage. Those who violate the rule risk punishment, up to and including expulsion, according to ?The Liberty Way,? the school?s honor code for students. The university, like many Christian institutions, regards premarital sex as sinful, a corruption of a Christian?s bodily ?temple.?

    In a statement provided to POLITICO by Liberty University senior vice president Scott Lamb, the school reiterated that it has ?policies against employees having sexual relationships with students, as well as having other inappropriate relationships outside of marriage, whether consensual or not. Becki Falwell was an employee in 2008 and such policies would have fully applied to her as spouse of the then-university Chancellor and President. Liberty University has checked its Human Resources and Title IX records and finds no complaints were ever lodged against Becki Falwell for any inappropriate relationship nor were any investigations of such matters conducted. This is a fresh allegation, as far as we can tell.?



    POLITICO first contacted the former student in 2019, after hearing of his alleged sexual encounter with Falwell from former classmates. He confirmed the encounter but didn?t want to go public with it until recent weeks, when the Falwells? behavior came under scrutiny. POLITICO granted the former student anonymity to describe what he considered inappropriate advances from a woman who was herself a university employee and wife of the university president.

    He said he did not feel comfortable discussing the encounter earlier because he suffered from feelings of guilt and depression, feared exposure, and didn?t want to cause harm to the Falwell family.

    He said he grew up in a North Carolina home where the Falwell name loomed large. His mother admired Liberty?s founder, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., and was a true believer in the conservative Christian values that Liberty developed a reputation for cultivating in young people. For the then-student, the incident with Becki Falwell incited a long struggle with both his faith and mental health. He said he did not tell family members of the cause of his distress, and only confided in a few close friends.

    ?It made [him] feel bad. It was a depressing thing; he struggled with depression [afterwards],? the former bandmate told POLITICO.

    ?I don?t want to be a homewrecker,? the former student said. ?That took a toll on the soul.?

    The former student, who is now 34, said he had not heard from Becki Falwell in more than eight years until this week, during which her relationship with Granda came to light. He said she texted him to say hello, and commiserate over the controversy that an engulfed her family. ?This is a nightmare. It just keeps getting worse,? Falwell texted him on Monday night, shortly before Jerry Falwell Jr. officially resigned as president.

    The former student said he responded the following day by texting that he was praying for her.



    It was early in the summer of 2008 when a member of his rock band suggested a new guitarist who, he said, knew every Led Zeppelin song and could play like Jimmy Page. He was younger than them by a few years ? they were in their early 20s, and he was fresh out of high school. But there was another reason for hesitation: His name was Trey Falwell. He was the eldest son of Jerry and Becki Falwell.

    ?If we get this kid in the band, we?re gonna have Falwell?s name attached to it,? the former student remembered thinking.

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    Still, Trey Falwell could play. And his parents were supportive of the band, even offering to let the guys practice in an abandoned church next to their home, which is sometimes referred to as Falwell Farm, in Goode, Virginia.

    “They had this old church on their lot, and said, ‘If you guys go in and fix it up, you can play there whenever you want,’” the former student said. “So we went in and put egg crates and lighting everywhere. The lighting was with the help of the Falwells. From the very get-go, they wanted to come across as very warm and compassionate.” The band christened the space the “House of the Holy,” a nod to a 1973 album by Led Zeppelin.

    Members of the band recall Becki Falwell’s habit of showing up to their rehearsals. At first, the guys didn’t think much of it — she was friendly and hospitable, and always offered them food and snacks. “It wasn’t just a one-time thing,” the former student said. “It was, ‘Oh hey, guys, I brought you some lemonade.’ And then she’d always stick around.”

    “She was like, ‘Hey, I know I’m a mom, but I wanna be friends with everyone,’” recalled the former bandmate. Eventually, it got awkward, he recalls: “It was, like, a ‘Dude, why is somebody’s Mom chilling with us?’ type thing.”

    Pretty soon, his bandmates thought they might have an answer.

    “I could tell she was giving me looks, but [I] wanted to downplay it,” the former student said. “I would think, ‘Am I reading too much into this?’ She would speak almost … she’d always give little innuendos. Almost like she was speaking in code.”

    Still, he figured, he was imagining things. “I’m just seeing this wrong,” he recalled thinking.

    Shortly before classes resumed for Liberty’s fall 2008 semester, the then-student and a few friends were clearing boxes out of the rehearsal space on the Falwells’ property. Becki met them in the driveway.

    “We were all hot and sweaty. She goes, ‘Hey, can you help me with something?’ I said, ‘Sure, heck yeah, I can help you!’ I figure she needed some heavy lifting. I’ll never forget, she corners me and goes, ‘Have you told your friends?’ I say, ‘Excuse me?’ She goes, ‘Have you told your friends that I think you’re hot?’” the former student recalled. “She’s standing there with her eyes locked on me, waiting to see what I’d say. I probably laughed it off, like, ‘Haha. No, I haven’t told them that one.’”

    Still, they showed up because they had gigs to practice for, including one in September at the Campus Artist Series, a showcase of bands comprised of Liberty students and held at the university’s newly opened Tilley Center, which is named after Becki’s father, Tom Tilley, who partially financed the construction of the building.

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    Often, the band would practice into the evening. Some nights, it would just be the then-student and Trey jamming together. “I was working weird hours at a restaurant, so I wasn’t around when Trey and [the then-student] would chill,” the former bandmate told POLITICO. Trey Falwell and the former student would stay up drinking whiskey and picking out tunes on their guitars until the early morning. If it was really late, or if he’d had too much to drink, the then-student would spend the night, crashing on the bed from a fold-out couch in the guest room next to Trey’s bedroom.

    “One night [in August or September], we were up till one or two, and we went back to his room. We had a decent amount of Jack Daniels,” the former student said. He remembered walking into the guest room, just as he’d done many times, closing the door behind him, and preparing the bed.

    “I’m laying in the bed and I hear, like, giggling to the side of me on the floor. And, pardon my French, but I was like, ‘What the fuck is that?’ I look over and it’s Becki,” he said. “Just, you know, in my room. I’m like, ‘You can’t be in here. This can’t happen.’”

    He was a 22-year-old student at Liberty. She was the wife of the president of the school. The Falwells were, effectively, the First Family of conservative evangelicalism in America.

    After some prodding, he coaxed Falwell into leaving. He slept, woke up and acted like things were normal.

    A few nights later, he stayed the night again. Again, Falwell came into the guestroom where the then-student was in bed.

    This time, she was more aggressive. The former student remembers that Falwell climbed into bed with him, and quickly took down his pants.

    “I was like, ‘uh, what are you doing?” the former student said. Falwell then proceeded to give him oral sex.

    Over the last year, the former student has recounted this story several times in interviews with POLITICO. He maintained that while some of the details from the 12-year-old encounter are fuzzy, there are others that are clear. He remembers lying on the “right side of the cot.” He remembers thinking the room “looked like an Embassy Suites.” He remembers that Jerry Jr. was away that weekend, and that Wesley, the Falwells’ second son, wasn’t there.

    Also clear is the fallout. The encounter, the former student said, “really put a hurt on [me] because I trusted her as a friend.”

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    In the case of this then-student, these feelings were compounded by Becki Falwell’s position at Liberty University, and in Evangelical Christianity more broadly. He was concerned that word would get out, and that he would in some way be responsible for any injury that would besmear the legacy of Jerry Falwell Sr., who had died a year earlier.

    So he kept the sexual encounter secret, save for a few close friends. He said he did not tell Trey Falwell what his mother had done. But the encounter had changed the dynamic between them.

    “We started to slowly push Trey out of the band,” the former student said. “From that point forward, it was a weird dynamic. We weren’t as inviting.”

    Trey wanted to stay in the band long enough to play an important show with them — a Christmas show Liberty holds every December — and the band agreed. The concert went poorly, the former student said, recalling that their transition from “Carol of the Bells” into a Led Zeppelin song was booed by the audience. The response rattled Trey. Whereas the other members of the band had played gigs at bars with hostile crowds, Trey lacked that experience. It would be the last time the group performed together.

    But all through that fall, as the band was slowly separating, the former student said he continued to receive messages and requests from Becki Falwell.

    ***

    When Falwell first contacted the then-student over social media, he said she posed as a blonde North Carolina woman in her early 20s, he said. “She created a fake account, with a fake picture and a fake name,” he told POLITICO.

    At first, he didn’t know who it was. Then he realized something was amiss.

    “She was saying stuff a 20 and 21-year-old wouldn’t say,” he said. “[It was] like real Southern charm. Stuff that older people say. And I said [to myself], ‘Hold up, not only is this an old person, it’s Becki.’”

    “So I said, ‘I think I have a feeling who this is. Why are you doing this right now on this account?’” the former student recalled. “I think she was embarrassed, because I kinda remember her being defensive about it.”

    From then on, Falwell messaged him from her personal Facebook account.


    The former student provided POLITICO with screenshots of several of these conversations. The dates of Facebook’s timestamps range from September 2008 to December 2008, which overlaps with the six-month period Trey was in the band. (These messages, with identifying aspects redacted, are pictured here.)

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    “I love watching you before a show,” she wrote him on Nov. 7, 2008. “I can always tell that you are a little nervous by how you tap your hands on your pants.” He remembers feeling uncomfortable because of how closely she seemed to be watching him.

    Her praise of the then-student’s talents became effusive. “What you did at the Battle of the Bands was truly genius, getting everyone to stand up and come near the stage. It was so neat to see people singing along to shady grove (of course through the tears in my eyes … that song always gets to me.).”

    “Becki thought [he] wrote that song about her,” the bandmate said.


    It wasn’t, the former student said. He recalled Falwell frequently asking him to write a song for her. “I think she just wanted to believe” that “Shady Grove” was about her, he said. “My dear, I love your mess and everything in between,” the song lyrics read. “If we slow down long enough, I can show you what I mean.”

    Even as the then-student tried to stay away from Falwell, he said, she continued making advances. “I was getting phone call after phone call after phone call after phone call from her — I’m in class! — leaving me a message, like, the corniest thing you could do, like [singing the James Blunt song] ‘You’re Beautiful,’ leaving it on my [voicemail],” he remembered. “I just said, ‘This can’t happen anymore.’”

    But Falwell was persistent. “She got too brash with stuff,” he said. In one instance, Becki approached the then-student in a public place on Liberty’s campus to hand him concert tickets. “She was buying Kings of Leon tickets and showing up and handing [them] to [me in front of] people!”

    For the then-student, a line was crossed when Falwell befriended his mother, who had driven to Lynchburg to see one of his band’s shows.

    “[Falwell said], ‘Oh, let’s get your mother’s number,’” the former student said. “My poor mother worships the ground Jerry Falwell Sr. walks on, just considering what he did for American Evangelicals. So she was getting the biggest kick out of Becki calling her. I had to tell [Falwell], ‘Hey, please do not contact my family.’”

    In December 2008, months after he began trying to distance himself from her, she started to get the point. In one Facebook message provided to POLITICO, Falwell vents frustration that he is not responding to her messages quickly enough. “I’ve got you an incredible ray lamontagne cd. Call me (since your text is dead) and i’ll get the cd to you,” she wrote in one. Six hours later, without receiving a response, Falwell sent another message: “never mind. don’t call. I’ll give the cd to someone who will appreciate it.” Later that night, he replied explaining that he’d been off Facebook because he had a “busy day.”
    In a Facebook private message sent at 12:39 A.M. on Dec. 3, 2008, Becki Falwell told a then-Liberty University student she had a gift for him. "hey mr. legend, it was great finally seeing you tonight after a month or forever. i've got an incredible ray lamontagne cd. call me (since your text is dead) tomorrow and i'll get it to you." When the student hadn't responded by 6:54 p.m. that day, she messaged him again: "never mind. don't call. i'll give the cd to someone else who will appreciate it."

    In a Facebook private message sent at 12:39 A.M. on Dec. 3, 2008, Becki Falwell told a then-Liberty University student she had a gift for him. "hey mr. legend, it was great finally seeing you tonight after a month or forever. i've got an incredible ray lamontagne cd. call me (since your text is dead) tomorrow and i'll get it to you." When the student hadn't responded by 6:54 p.m. that day, she messaged him again: "never mind. don't call. i'll give the cd to someone else who will appreciate it." | Obtained by Brandon Ambrosino/POLITICO

    “It was nice knowing you,” Falwell wrote in another message. The then-student replied, “What in the world are you talking about??”

    In another, Falwell wrote, “is anyone there????????? I really need to talk to you please………”
    "It was nice knowing you. sorry you had to leave," Becki Falwell wrote in a Facebook direct message to a then-Liberty student in Dec. 2008. "What in the world are you talking about??" he replied.

    "It was nice knowing you. sorry you had to leave," Becki Falwell wrote in a Facebook direct message to a then-Liberty student in Dec. 2008. "What in the world are you talking about??" he replied. | Obtained by Brandon Ambrosino/POLITICO

    One of the last messages Falwell sent reads simultaneously supportive and apologetic.

    “I am so thrilled that you have found a girlfriend!!!! I knew it wouldn’t be long before someone noticed all of the great qualities that you have. I just want you to be happy and it hurts to realize that remaining friends with me must not make you that way. Please just be kind enough to let me know whether or not you have received my texts. I am sorry that 6 months of friendship has ended this way. Maybe time will heal whatever wounds that I have caused and your Christian heart will allow you to forgive me.
    Always,
    BF”



    But for the former student, those words, and what he described as the “insurmountable guilt” they brought to mind, weighed heavily on his conscience.

    He contacted Becki Falwell again in June 2011, according to emails provided by a person close to the situation, and referred to his disappointment over his failure to finish his degree. He asked for her help in getting a job to offset his student-loan debt as he returned to classes: “I don't know if i should do the call center, or grounds...what do you think?? I am a hard worker and can learn and adapt very quickly.”

    She replied almost a week later, offering to help him and asking after his mother. “Have you put in an application at Liberty? I don't know what jobs are available but I think they list them on the website somewhere.”

    He said he returned to Liberty and finished his degree in 2012.

    He said he and Falwell have not been in contact for eight years, before this week.

    While the former student said he considered coming forward with his story in the past, he was worried about damaging the reputation of the school that Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. founded. “I respect Jerry Sr. and what he did for the school, for the kids, and I believe the Lord had a mission on his life to do that,” he said. Several times, he expressed his desire to maintain anonymity, saying that he did not want to be treated like former White House intern Monica Lewinsky — his name reduced to a salacious punchline.

    In the end, he decided to come forward with his story because of what he now sees as an abuse of power on the part of Becki Falwell. He believes now that that day in the driveway when she asked if he had told his friends that “I think you’re hot,” she was testing him.

    “Usually I think about a middle-aged man grooming someone,” the former student said. “It’s funny how it happened with the whole, ‘Me Too’ [movement]. I’m on the other end of the spectrum [from] men harassing women. I found [that] a lot of the traits that these guys had, [Falwell] had as well.”

    The former student also believes that Falwell trusted him to keep their secret because “she knew that I cared about her school and the soul-winning aspect. I did not want to corrupt that by any means,” the former student said. “I don’t want that on my back, that I took down the school.”

    Over the past year, the former student has described in a variety of ways the conflict that has gone on inside him in the wake of his sexual encounter with Falwell. One is a comparison he makes between himself and a famous biblical character.



    “Afterwards, I just felt like Joseph for many years,” the former student said. “I know you get the analogy — from that story of Joseph and his coat of many colors, when that woman tried to seduce him.”

    He was referring to a story from the Hebrew Bible, recounted in Genesis 39, when Joseph found himself cornered by a woman who wanted to have sex with him. The woman was married to Potiphar, the politically powerful captain of Pharaoh’s guard. Potiphar’s wife aggressively tried to seduce Joseph, an unwilling recipient of her advances, and stripped off his clothes. Before he could be violated, Joseph fled the scene, establishing himself in Biblical teaching as a symbol of integrity and honor.

    The former student brought up the story of Joseph not to compare himself to a Biblical hero, but to emphasize their differences.

    “I didn’t run. I stayed,” he said. “I felt that guilt.”

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    It turns out the second accuser is a bandmate to Jerry Falwell Jr and Becki Falwells kid at Liberty University.

    Days after Jerry Falwell Jr. resigned as the president of Liberty University, a new allegation has been leveraged against his wife, Becki Falwell.

    A former Liberty University student, who was bandmates with Becki's son Trey Falwell, told Politico in a report published Thursday that Becki performed oral sex on him in 2008.

    Becki did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. Becki and Jerry denied the student's claims to Politico, calling them "false and mean spirited lies."

    The student, now 34, was a 22-year-old student at the evangelical university at the time. The student, who requested anonymity, provided Politico with screenshots of old Facebook messages he alleges are between him and the then-university president's wife. Another bandmate told the outlet that the student had told him about the incident after it happened.

    According to the report, the student and his band needed a guitarist, and the Falwells' son Trey seemed like the perfect fit. The Falwells allowed the band to repurpose an old church on their property as a practice space, which they regularly used.

    However, the student said that Becki frequently crashed their practices and was flirtatious towards him.

    "It wasn’t just a one-time thing," he told Politico. "It was, ‘Oh hey, guys, I brought you some lemonade.’ And then she’d always stick around."

    "She was like, ‘Hey, I know I’m a mom, but I wanna be friends with everyone,’” a former bandmate of the student added. "It was, like, a ‘Dude, why is somebody’s Mom chilling with us?’ type thing."

    "I could tell she was giving me looks, but [I] wanted to downplay it," the student said. "I would think, ‘Am I reading too much into this?’ She would speak almost … she’d always give little innuendos. Almost like she was speaking in code."

    The student said he thought he was "just seeing this wrong" until one day the band was moving things around their practice space and Becki approached him in a moment he says he will "never forget."

    "We were all hot and sweaty. She goes, ‘Hey, can you help me with something?’ I said, ‘Sure, heck yeah, I can help you!’ I figure she needed some heavy lifting," the student told Politico.

    "I’ll never forget, she corners me and goes, ‘Have you told your friends?’ I say, ‘Excuse me?’ She goes, ‘Have you told your friends that I think you’re hot?’” he said. “She’s standing there with her eyes locked on me, waiting to see what I’d say. I probably laughed it off, like, ‘Haha. No, I haven’t told them that one.'"

    Awhile after that alleged encounter, the student says one night discovered Becki hiding in the guest room where he sometimes stayed over, and he told her to leave. But a few nights later, the student stayed the night again, and once again Becki came into the guest room where he was staying, he claims.

    "I was like, ‘Uh, what are you doing?'" the student said of the encounter, in which he says Becki got into bed with him, pulled down his pants and performed oral sex on him.

    The student said he only told a few close friends about the incident, wanting to keep it a secret. He told Politico that it "took a toll on the soul" and he didn't want to be a "homewrecker."

    One of his former bandmates told Politico that the student "struggled with depression" after the alleged encounter.

    Becki continued to contact the student through Facebook for months afterward before he finally cut off contact with her, the student claims. He said that up until the scandal involving the Falwells this week, he had not spoken to Becki in eight years.

    The student was inspired to come forward with his story now because he sees Becki's behavior as an abuse of power, Politico reported.

    Becki and Jerry told Politico the student's claims were false.

    “It is unfortunate that the coverage of our departure has turned into a frenzy of false and fantastic claims about us," they said in a statement to the outlet.

    "These false and mean spirited lies have hurt us and our family greatly and we will respond fully with the truth at an appropriate time. At this time, however, we think it is best to move on and help the Liberty community focus on its very bright future…:

    Becki recently confirmed an extramarital affair with Giancarlo Granda after the former Miami pool attendant's bombshell interview with Reuters was published earlier this week. Granda, 29, claimed that Jerry "enjoyed watching from the corner of the room" while he and Becki had sex. While Becki admitted to the affair, she said that Jerry had nothing to do with it. Jerry has also disputed Granda's claims.

    Earlier this month, Jerry was placed on an "indefinite leave of absence" after an Instagram photo surfaced of him with his pants unzipped. He has since resigned.

    Jerry told the Associated Press that the Granda scandal is the reason behind his resignation.

    "That’s the only reason I resigned: because I don’t want something my wife did to harm the school I’ve spent my whole life building," he said. "I never broke a single rule that applies to staff members at Liberty, which I was. So I want everybody to know that."

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    Former Miami pool attendant Giancarlo Granda has made explosive new claims about Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife Becki, saying the former head of Liberty University is "lying."

    Granda, 29, previously told Reuters that after meeting the Falwells at a Miami Beach hotel in 2012, he would meet up with them several times a year over the next six years to have sex with Becki while “Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room.”

    Jerry has denied this account and claimed in his own statement to The Washington Examiner that he had no part in the sexual relationship and that Becki was the one who had cheated. Becki recently confirmed an extramarital affair with Granda, saying that Jerry had nothing to do with it.

    But speaking with Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos about the couple’s denials, Granda claimed that Jerry is “lying.”

    “That was his game plan from the beginning — to just throw her under the bus,” Granda said on Friday's broadcast. “He was aware from day one of our relationship and he did, in fact, watch.”

    The Falwells did not immediately return PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

    According to Granda, he was 20 years old and working as a pool attendant at a Miami Beach hotel when the relationship began. After engaging in a flirty conversation with Becki one night, Granda claimed she invited him up to her hotel room and told him that “my husband wants to watch.”

    “I thought it was a bit strange and I backed off,” he said on GMA, claiming that Becki reassured him, “he’s not going to do anything, he’s just doing to sit in the corner and he’s just going to watch. It’s his thing.”

    After finishing up work, Granda said he met Becki in the lobby of another hotel before going up to her room.

    “Jerry was lying on the bed. He was drunk and he was giggling,” Granda said. “I said, ‘Hey, if at any point you get jealous, or you want me to back off just let me know and I’ll walk out of here.’ He’s like, ‘No, just go for it.’”

    “I don’t want to go too much into the details but he enjoyed watching,” he added.

    Although Jerry has described Granda’s claim as an extortion plot, the former pool attendant says that he was the one who was taken advantage of.

    During a subsequent encounter, Granda claimed that he told the couple about a “passion project of mine” that would connect people who suffer from video game addiction with health coaches.

    Granda alleged that Jerry was supportive of the idea and suggested he first pursue a real estate venture in Miami. That property ultimately turned out to be a Miami Beach youth hostel, which the Falwells purchased in 2013 and offered Granda a share in, BuzzFeed News previously reported.

    “At the time I was timid, a bit nervous and I believe now in hindsight that they spotted these weaknesses and made me an ideal target,” he said during his GMA interview. “I think it’s kind of ridiculous to think that this 20 year old with not many resources, I don’t come from a family with a lot of money, was targeting and preying upon this power couple that have all of the political connections and all of the money in the world.”

    As for what he hopes will happen next, Granda said he hopes he will be able to “cut ties” with the family.

    “That’s all I ever wanted to do,” he said.

    Earlier this month, Jerry was placed on an "indefinite leave of absence" after an Instagram photo surfaced of him with his pants unzipped. He has since resigned from the prominent Christian school, which said the "university’s heartfelt prayers are with him and his family as he steps away from his life’s work."

    Jerry told the Associated Press that the Granda scandal is the reason behind his resignation.

    "That’s the only reason I resigned: because I don’t want something my wife did to harm the school I’ve spent my whole life building," he said. "I never broke a single rule that applies to staff members at Liberty, which I was. So I want everybody to know that."

    On Thursday a new set of allegations emerged from a former Liberty student who told Politico that Becki was the "aggressor" in a sexual encounter. The Falwells called his allegations "false and mean spirited lies" in a statement to Politico.

    Becki told the AP on Tuesday that she and Jerry are “more in love than ever."

    “We have the strongest relationship, and Jerry is the most forgiving person I’ve ever met,” Becki told the outlet. “It’s a shame that Christians can’t give us the same forgiveness that Christ gave us.”

    Jerry on Panic Mode


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    https://wset.com/news/local/lu-leade...rs-resignation

    Now Current Liberty University management find themselves in Damage control.

    LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) -- For the first time since Jerry Falwell's official resignation from Liberty, university leadership addressed the student body Wednesday, August 26.

    The university's acting president, Dr. Jerry Prevo, said this semester is a new beginning.

    "For the past 13 years, Jerry Falwell Jr. has helped build this university into a world class institution," Prevo said, "He's been the inspiration and builder of this great campus which all of us can be proud of."

    The speech at convocation is Dr. Prevo's first public remark since Falwell sent his letter of resignation to the university through his attorney.

    "I want to reassure the entire Liberty University community that we are committed to the spiritual and academic mission we began almost 50 years ago," Prevo said.

    As Prevo urged students to look forward, Jerry Falwell's brother, Pastor Jonathan Falwell, asked them to reflect.

    "The world doesn't need another Christian hypocrite," he said, "The world doesn't need a hypocrite leading in anything."

    Pastor Falwell never mentioned his brother's name, or his resignation from the university. Instead, his message focused on temptation.

    "So many times we see Christians that are more focused on building their own brand than they are about building the kingdom of God," he said.

    Pastor Falwell said Liberty University is a place where students can build their faith and share God's message. He said the community should never forget that purpose.

    "What the world needs is a body of believers like you and me who say one thing and live by the exact same message," he said.

    David Nasser, Liberty's Vice President for Spiritual Development, said the university family has a lot to deal with. He also told students he plans to address Falwell's resignation Wednesday night at a campus Bible study.

    ABC13 reached out to Liberty University for a sit-down interview with Dr. Prevo, or any university official, about Falwell's resignation. A university spokesperson said Prevo isn't doing interviews.

  21. #21
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    https://www.washingtonpost.com/educa...-christianity/

    Liberty University students watched their first all-school convocation of the semester one day after their high-profile president, Jerry Falwell Jr., resigned amid personal scandals.

    Falwell has been “an inspiration,” said Jerry Prevo, a powerful, fundamentalist pastor from Alaska serving as acting president. He told students that Liberty’s leaders are committed to the spiritual mission of the university. He also said Falwell had been the “builder of this great campus, which all of us can be proud of.”

    Then Jonathan Falwell, pastor of the Liberty-affiliated Thomas Road Baptist Church, spoke. He did not mention his brother by name. But he told his audience, in Lynchburg, Va., and around the globe: “So many times we see Christians that are more focused on building their own brand than they are about building the kingdom of God.”

    There are a lot of universities out there, Jonathan Falwell said, but Liberty is different: It was built to change the world with the gospel. He urged students to be faithful, trust God and avoid temptation.

    Some students who heard the two men said the convocation highlighted a key tension at their school. They felt that Prevo was elevating the former president because of his transformation of the university and that Jonathan Falwell was elevating the Christian values they shared.

    “I thought Jonathan Falwell, without being too explicit about it … he definitely kind of took Jerry to task,” said Eli Best, a junior from Alexandria. “But he did it in a way that took us all to task. It was very relevant.”

    Jerry Falwell Jr. resigns as head of Liberty University, will get $10.5 million in compensation

    Fallwell Jr.'s departure leaves Liberty at a turning point: Will the school continue its huge success as measured by the school’s size, assets and political clout? Or will it return to the more rigorously religious priority of its revered televangelist founder, Jerry Falwell Sr.?

    The question resonates far beyond campus. Some experts say it speaks to a challenge for religious schools as they seek to balance a highly competitive marketplace with their core values.

    “It’s hard to overstate how significant and influential Liberty is,” said Ed Stetzer, who runs the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. “It’s so large and so engaged in the conversations of our day."

    David French, a prominent evangelical writer and lawyer, said the choices Liberty makes “will say a lot about the evangelical movement more broadly."

    “Liberty is trying to define what it means to educate Christian young people in the United States," he said. "So it matters.”

    “Preserve those values”

    Liberty was founded in 1971 as a small college with a clear mission: ″Training Champions for Christ." At the convocation Wednesday, Jonathan Falwell shared his memory of watching as a small child as his father walked through the tall grass of a field, praying God would give them land for a university that could change the world.

    AD

    In its early years, the school had a strict a dress code, a ban on R-rated movies and convocation three times a week. The ties with Thomas Road Baptist Church, also founded by Falwell, Sr., were tight. So were finances: In the 1990s, Liberty owed as much as $100 million. At times, faculty went unpaid.

    But Liberty has changed. It is not just its sheer growth — the school now has 85,000 students. After Falwell Sr. died in 2007, his lawyer-developer son took charge and oversaw the explosion of Liberty’s online program, a dramatic improvement in its finances, a Division I football team and a massive construction boom that beautified the campus. Falwell Jr. also offered a presidential endorsement in 2016 that recently has associated Liberty more in the public mind with Donald Trump and Republican politics than with Christian values.

    Falwell meets with Trump to talk education

    Convocation was held less often. And the substance changed: Speakers increasingly included business leaders, sports figures or politicians, as well as religious figures. Some of the strict rules of conduct were relaxed, especially for online students. Most visibly, the school’s president was not a pastor. Especially in recent years, he made headlines with business disputes and allegations of inappropriate behavior.

    “It’s very hard to preserve those values,” said Dirk Smillie, a financial journalist who spent a good deal of time with Falwells Jr. and Sr. for his book about their family, called “Falwell, Inc.”

    That is a challenge many evangelical colleges face, with experts saying religious higher education has become much more professional and competitive in the past 50 years.

    Perry Glanzer, a Baylor University education professor, said one of the big trends of this era is the rise of conservative, charismatic or fundamentalist schools that had been started by a pastor or personality and turned into something much bigger. Liberty is in this group, Glanzer wrote in an email, along with Oral Roberts University and Regent University. Many of their graduates have gone on to careers in the U.S. Capitol, on Wall Street or in the entertainment industry.

    Albert Mohler, theologian and president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the business model that allowed Liberty to explode with growth could make it harder to preserve Falwell Sr.’s conservative-Christianity-first model. Although Liberty is a private university, it relies heavily on funding that flows through federal student aid programs, public money that comes with requirements to avoid discrimination. In the most recent school year, federal data show, the government disbursed more than $750 million in grants and loans to help students pay to attend Liberty, putting the school ahead of most others in total government loan volume.

    AD

    “One danger in becoming financially dependent on outside sources is they don’t care about our convictions,” Mohler said. “That’s the magic question about the future. If you become big and powerful and rich as an institution, it’s hard to make decisions that cost you status and wealth.”

    Jerry Falwell Jr. dreaded the spotlight. Then came Donald Trump.

    Now many are watching for the board’s next move.

    An alumni group called Save71 formed this summer and called for Falwell’s removal to restore what they see as the school’s evangelical mission. When he was placed on paid leave earlier this month — after posting a photo of himself with his arm around his wife’s young assistant with both of their zippers undone — Save71 leaders said they were pleased the board had taken action but worried that Prevo, who is close with the Falwell family, had taken over.

    After Falwell resigned amid more allegations of impropriety — but with no finding of wrongdoing and an exit package of more than $10 million — the group said more change is needed.

    AD

    For years, they wrote in a statement, Liberty’s board allowed Falwell to harm Liberty’s reputation, permitting him and his family to run the school like a personal business and sitting by “while Falwell’s words and deeds disgraced the name of the Lord again and again.”

    When the school announced Falwell’s departure, it praised his contributions and pledged to focus on ensuring the school could remain true to its mission. “Our students are ready to be world changers as Champions for Christ," Prevo said in the statement. "Their spirit is strong as they look to the future. I intend to do all I can to nurture their spiritual side as they grow academically and enjoy all our campus has to offer.”

    In October, the board will select a search committee. School spokesman Scott Lamb said it is safe to assume they will launch a national search for the next president.

    AD

    The board of trustees should examine its own failures, said Warren Smith, president of MinistryWatch, a ministry watchdog group, and a Liberty parent. “They have not performed their fiduciary duties.”

    Still, he said Liberty’s strengths — its financial health, its large donor and alumni bases, its breadth of majors and opportunities — give it the opportunity to become an even better school.

    “There’s a lot going on at Liberty that’s great, I wouldn’t send my own daughter there if I didn’t think so,” he said.

    “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity in higher education. It’s a school with the budget to hire the best."

    President Trump stands with Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. in Lynchburg, Va. (Steve Helber/AP File)
    President Trump stands with Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. in Lynchburg, Va. (Steve Helber/AP File)
    Tyler Lee, a graduate who worked closely with Jerry Falwell, Jr. for several years, said the school’s financial strength will last long into the future and is his greatest legacy. “That’s going to far outpace any scandal," he said. "They will continue to train champions for Christ.”

    AD

    On campus, many students are not talking about the abrupt change in leadership and what is ahead, said Brooke Smoke, a 22-year-old student from Front Royal, Va. In classes, she said, prayers have been offered asking God to guide them through the uncertainty.

    During convocation, she was troubled by the talk about Liberty’s financial success under Jerry Falwell, Jr. But she appreciated that Jonathan Falwell read from the Bible, and challenged students to avoid temptation, to keep their motives pure, to be faithful to God’s call.

    “I think the campus needs to get back to the basics," Smoke said. "I hope as we move forward as a campus we’ll focus more on the Christian roots of the school.”

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    https://www.koin.com/news/national/l...lwells-tenure/

    RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ? Liberty University is opening an independent investigation into Jerry Falwell Jr.?s tenure as president, a wide-ranging inquiry that will include financial, real estate and legal matters, the evangelical school?s board announced Monday.

    In a statement, the board said it had retained an outside firm to investigate ?all facets? of the school?s operations under Falwell, and that it was ?committed to learning the consequences that have flowed from a lack of spiritual stewardship by our former president.?

    Calls for such an investigation had been mounting since Falwell?s departure last week from the post he had held since 2007.

    He officially resigned on Tuesday, after a confusing day of back-and-forths about whether he would be leaving. His departure came after a news outlet published an interview with Giancarlo Granda, a much younger business partner of the Falwell family. Granda said that he had a yearslong sexual relationship with Becki Falwell and that Jerry Falwell participated in some of the liaisons as a voyeur.

    Although the Falwells have acknowledged that Granda and Becki Falwell had an affair, Jerry Falwell has denied any participation. The couple allege that Granda sought to extort them by threatening to reveal the relationship unless he was paid substantial monies.

    The couple said in a statement provided to The Associated Press late Sunday that they support Liberty?s board and ?welcome any inquiry as we have nothing to hide.? A Falwell representative declined further comment when reached on Monday.

    Granda, 29, has denied trying to extort the Falwells, but told the AP that he currently has no plans to pursue legal action against them. He said he does want to see an independent investigation of the school, however. Based on what he saw of the school?s management under Falwell, Granda described it as run ?like a monarchy.?

    Falwell took over as the president of Liberty after the death of his famous evangelist father, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. He oversaw a period of expansive growth and transformation: Liberty?s online program exploded, as did its endowment; the campus underwent a massive transformation; and the athletics programs improved.

    Falwell also stayed in the news for a series of divisive remarks as well as his vocal support of President Donald Trump, and was the subject of news stories that focused on his business dealings.

    Liberty?s statement acknowledged that Falwell?s sharpest critics have long been calling for a departure.

    ?Some may say that all the signs were there for a long time before last week,? the statement said. ?It?s certainly fair to say that there were questionable comments made, worrying behavior, and inappropriate social media posts, but all the signs were not there until the start of last week.?

    That was not good enough for some of Falwell?s most vocal opponents. Save71, a recently formed nonprofit aimed at mobilizing students, alumni and faculty to push for reform, said in a statement that the board ?needs to disclose a lot more about this investigation for the Liberty community to trust its legitimacy.?

    The board?s statement did not name the firm it has hired, and a board spokesman did not return a request for comment on the company?s identity.

    Others were more encouraged.

    Karen Swallow Prior, a recently departed English professor at Liberty who had been critical of Falwell, said the investigation announcement was good news.

    ?I hope that they adhere to the highest standards of not only investigation but also reporting the findings,? added Prior, a prominent Christian academic who now teaches at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

    David Nasser, Liberty?s senior vice president for spiritual development, quickly praised the board?s actions, suggesting that other university leaders are eager to move beyond the Falwell era. Days earlier, Nasser publicly apologized to students for the ?embarrassment? he said Falwell?s scandals had caused the school.

    In Monday?s statement announcing the investigation, Liberty?s board also said it is considering establishing a post aimed at offering spiritual guidance for university leaders to ensure they ?live out the Christian walk expected of each and every one of us at Liberty.?

    The idea underscores the board?s concern over the degree to which Falwell?s alleged personal conduct would have violated the school?s behavioral codes. Before his resignation, Falwell had already been on an indefinite leave of absence after an uproar over a photo he posted on social media of him and his wife?s pregnant assistant, both with their pants unzipped.

    Falwell said it was taken in good fun at a costume party during a vacation, but critics saw it as evidence of hypocrisy by the head of an institution that holds students to a strict moral code of conduct. For his part, Falwell told the APlast week that ?I never broke a single rule that applies to staff members at Liberty, which I was.?

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    https://religionnews.com/2020/09/01/...my-bakker-ptl/

    An Editorial on the Falwells

    (RNS) — Evangelicals have seen this before. A celebrity leader caught in a scandal that seems to grow more bizarre by the minute.

    For Jerry Falwell Jr., what started with a racy Instagram photo of him next to a young female assistant, pants unzipped, drink in hand, has exploded into allegations of an affair, voyeurism, sex with a Liberty University student and financial impropriety involving both Falwell and his wife, Becki.

    Strange as Jerry Falwell Jr.’s fall from grace may be, it is not the first time the Falwell family has been involved in a story like this.

    In March 1987, Jim Bakker resigned as president of PTL and its television network when his sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn in a Florida hotel room became public. In the months that followed, the allegations against Bakker grew to include financial fraud and a string of gay relationships, some with employees who depended on Bakker for their jobs.

    The revelations eventually led to his indictment and trial in federal court.

    Jerry Falwell Sr., who took over PTL after Jim Bakker's troubles became public, was largely responsible for exposing Bakker and sealing his fate.

    The parallels between Jim Bakker and Jerry Falwell Jr. are striking. Both were innovators who pushed their organizations to dramatic heights. Bakker started the PTL television network with half a dozen employees in a former furniture store in 1974.

    In 1978 PTL launched the first private satellite network, a year before ESPN. The satellite network beamed Christian programming into millions of homes 24 hours a day, making Jim and Tammy stars and opening up enormous fundraising potential. By 1986, PTL had revenues of $129 million a year. Bakker used the television resources to build a 2,300-acre theme park, Heritage USA, which had six million visitors at its peak in 1986, behind only Disneyland and Disney World. But Heritage USA cost more than even the television money could support, leading Bakker to commit the fraud that sent him to prison.

    Coinciding with his rise to fame, Bakker embraced the prosperity gospel, a message that fit the 1980s perfectly. Jim and Tammy practiced what they preached, using PTL money to buy a 10,000-square-foot home near Charlotte, a Florida beach condo, and vacation homes in Palm Springs and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. They traveled with an entourage, flying first class or in chartered jets, and bought expensive cars, boats, clothes and jewelry. From 1984 to 1987 the Bakkers’ total compensation was $4.7 million.

    Jerry Falwell Jr. has similarly transformed Liberty University, launched by his father in 1971.

    After he took over leadership of the school in 2007, following the death of his father, Liberty’s endowment soared from $6.3 million to $1.6 billion, according to The Washington Post.

    Falwell Jr. was an early and vigorous proponent of online education. Last May, Liberty announced that its online enrollment had surpassed 100,000 students.

    As was the case with PTL, there are questions about Liberty’s financial integrity. Liberty’s undergraduate graduation rate is only 40% after eight years, according to Forbes. Many of these students leave with substantial debt, the result of student loans raked in by the school. The median debt for students graduating from one of Liberty’s “theological doctoral programs,” according to Forbes, was $96,000. Doctorates in theology rarely lead to big money.

    Meanwhile, the Falwells have enjoyed the perks of success.

    The infamous Instagram photo was taken on a 164-foot yacht owned by NASCAR mogul Rick Hendrick. The Falwells began vacationing on the yacht after Liberty University agreed to pay Hendrick Motorsports a reported $6 million a year to sponsor a car in NASCAR’s premier Cup series, according to Politico.

    RELATED: The fall of Falwell: A timeline of the ups, downs and scandals of his Liberty University presidency

    When the Jessica Hahn story broke, Bakker turned to Jerry Falwell Sr., whose influence had soared after he founded the Moral Majority in 1979, to preserve his empire. As Bakker remembered it, he invited Falwell to take over the leadership of PTL for six months while he rehabilitated his image.

    Over the next several months, Falwell and his team discovered that PTL was $65 million in debt and losing $2 million a month. They also uncovered stories about gay relationships and visits to prostitutes, sins that were insurmountable among evangelicals in the 1980s. Rather than save PTL, Falwell pushed it into bankruptcy. Standing in front of reporters on October 8, 1987, Falwell declared that Bakker had turned it into a “scab and cancer on the face of Christianity.”

    Jerry Falwell Jr., 25, and Becki Tilley, 21, were married that same week.

    Like Bakker, Jerry Falwell Jr. now finds himself mired in scandal. Following the Instagram photo, a former pool attendant, Giancarlo Granda, told numerous news outlets that he had a years-long affair with Becki Falwell and that Jerry “enjoyed watching” him have sex with his wife. After that, a former Liberty University student told Politico that Becki Falwell had performed oral sex on him when he stayed at their home following band practice in 2008.

    The former students described her as “the aggressor” in the relationship, according to Politico.

    There is likely more to come.

    American evangelicals expect their leaders to be both pious and successful, with success measured in terms of celebrity, money and political influence. For Jerry and Becki Falwell, much like Jim and Tammy Bakker, success has been easier to maintain than piety.

    According to NPR, after stepping down as president of Liberty University, Falwell appropriated the words of Martin Luther King Jr., declaring himself “free at last, free at last.”

    It is easy to see why.

    Falwell claims that he will leave Liberty University with $10.5 million in compensation.

    Still, he and his wife leave with tarnished reputations.

    Is there a road back for Jerry and Becki Falwell?

    The second acts of Jim and Tammy Bakker suggest that there is. Irrepressible and unfiltered, with big hair and outrageous lashes, Tammy’s focus was never solely on the church, so it was easier for her to branch out. While she never lost her faith, after the collapse of PTL and her divorce from Jim, she ventured beyond the borders of evangelicalism, becoming an icon of the gay community, the Judy Garland of televangelism.

    After prison, Jim initially rejected the prosperity gospel that had been so much a part of his success and downfall at PTL. But it was not long before he returned to his roots. He and his second wife, Lori Bakker, have built a new ministry called Morningside on 700 acres near Branson, Missouri. There Bakker has exchanged the prosperity gospel for doomsday apocalypticism, finding a way to turn a profit by selling freeze-dried survival food and gear to preppers. He has also turned to conservative politics, aligning with Donald Trump. It is brilliant, in a way, connecting to current trends and a new base of support.

    Whichever path the Falwells choose, they will not be the last of their kind.

    Much of American evangelicalism’s success rests on its close connection to American popular culture. But appropriating cultural expectations is risky business. Lines blur and compromises are ignored until scandal erupts.

    Holy Shit Jerry Falwell Sr. Used to go after PTL's Jim and Tammy Bakker back in the 1980's exactly the same way that we are looking at the former Liberty University leader.

  24. #24
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    https://religionnews.com/2020/09/01/...my-bakker-ptl/

    An Editorial on the Falwells

    (RNS) ? Evangelicals have seen this before. A celebrity leader caught in a scandal that seems to grow more bizarre by the minute.

    For Jerry Falwell Jr., what started with a racy Instagram photo of him next to a young female assistant, pants unzipped, drink in hand, has exploded into allegations of an affair, voyeurism, sex with a Liberty University student and financial impropriety involving both Falwell and his wife, Becki.

    Strange as Jerry Falwell Jr.?s fall from grace may be, it is not the first time the Falwell family has been involved in a story like this.

    In March 1987, Jim Bakker resigned as president of PTL and its television network when his sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn in a Florida hotel room became public. In the months that followed, the allegations against Bakker grew to include financial fraud and a string of gay relationships, some with employees who depended on Bakker for their jobs.

    The revelations eventually led to his indictment and trial in federal court.

    Jerry Falwell Sr., who took over PTL after Jim Bakker's troubles became public, was largely responsible for exposing Bakker and sealing his fate.

    The parallels between Jim Bakker and Jerry Falwell Jr. are striking. Both were innovators who pushed their organizations to dramatic heights. Bakker started the PTL television network with half a dozen employees in a former furniture store in 1974.

    In 1978 PTL launched the first private satellite network, a year before ESPN. The satellite network beamed Christian programming into millions of homes 24 hours a day, making Jim and Tammy stars and opening up enormous fundraising potential. By 1986, PTL had revenues of $129 million a year. Bakker used the television resources to build a 2,300-acre theme park, Heritage USA, which had six million visitors at its peak in 1986, behind only Disneyland and Disney World. But Heritage USA cost more than even the television money could support, leading Bakker to commit the fraud that sent him to prison.

    Coinciding with his rise to fame, Bakker embraced the prosperity gospel, a message that fit the 1980s perfectly. Jim and Tammy practiced what they preached, using PTL money to buy a 10,000-square-foot home near Charlotte, a Florida beach condo, and vacation homes in Palm Springs and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. They traveled with an entourage, flying first class or in chartered jets, and bought expensive cars, boats, clothes and jewelry. From 1984 to 1987 the Bakkers? total compensation was $4.7 million.

    Jerry Falwell Jr. has similarly transformed Liberty University, launched by his father in 1971.

    After he took over leadership of the school in 2007, following the death of his father, Liberty?s endowment soared from $6.3 million to $1.6 billion, according to The Washington Post.

    Falwell Jr. was an early and vigorous proponent of online education. Last May, Liberty announced that its online enrollment had surpassed 100,000 students.

    As was the case with PTL, there are questions about Liberty?s financial integrity. Liberty?s undergraduate graduation rate is only 40% after eight years, according to Forbes. Many of these students leave with substantial debt, the result of student loans raked in by the school. The median debt for students graduating from one of Liberty?s ?theological doctoral programs,? according to Forbes, was $96,000. Doctorates in theology rarely lead to big money.

    Meanwhile, the Falwells have enjoyed the perks of success.

    The infamous Instagram photo was taken on a 164-foot yacht owned by NASCAR mogul Rick Hendrick. The Falwells began vacationing on the yacht after Liberty University agreed to pay Hendrick Motorsports a reported $6 million a year to sponsor a car in NASCAR?s premier Cup series, according to Politico.

    RELATED: The fall of Falwell: A timeline of the ups, downs and scandals of his Liberty University presidency

    When the Jessica Hahn story broke, Bakker turned to Jerry Falwell Sr., whose influence had soared after he founded the Moral Majority in 1979, to preserve his empire. As Bakker remembered it, he invited Falwell to take over the leadership of PTL for six months while he rehabilitated his image.

    Over the next several months, Falwell and his team discovered that PTL was $65 million in debt and losing $2 million a month. They also uncovered stories about gay relationships and visits to prostitutes, sins that were insurmountable among evangelicals in the 1980s. Rather than save PTL, Falwell pushed it into bankruptcy. Standing in front of reporters on October 8, 1987, Falwell declared that Bakker had turned it into a ?scab and cancer on the face of Christianity.?

    Jerry Falwell Jr., 25, and Becki Tilley, 21, were married that same week.

    Like Bakker, Jerry Falwell Jr. now finds himself mired in scandal. Following the Instagram photo, a former pool attendant, Giancarlo Granda, told numerous news outlets that he had a years-long affair with Becki Falwell and that Jerry ?enjoyed watching? him have sex with his wife. After that, a former Liberty University student told Politico that Becki Falwell had performed oral sex on him when he stayed at their home following band practice in 2008.

    The former students described her as ?the aggressor? in the relationship, according to Politico.

    There is likely more to come.

    American evangelicals expect their leaders to be both pious and successful, with success measured in terms of celebrity, money and political influence. For Jerry and Becki Falwell, much like Jim and Tammy Bakker, success has been easier to maintain than piety.

    According to NPR, after stepping down as president of Liberty University, Falwell appropriated the words of Martin Luther King Jr., declaring himself ?free at last, free at last.?

    It is easy to see why.

    Falwell claims that he will leave Liberty University with $10.5 million in compensation.

    Still, he and his wife leave with tarnished reputations.

    Is there a road back for Jerry and Becki Falwell?

    The second acts of Jim and Tammy Bakker suggest that there is. Irrepressible and unfiltered, with big hair and outrageous lashes, Tammy?s focus was never solely on the church, so it was easier for her to branch out. While she never lost her faith, after the collapse of PTL and her divorce from Jim, she ventured beyond the borders of evangelicalism, becoming an icon of the gay community, the Judy Garland of televangelism.

    After prison, Jim initially rejected the prosperity gospel that had been so much a part of his success and downfall at PTL. But it was not long before he returned to his roots. He and his second wife, Lori Bakker, have built a new ministry called Morningside on 700 acres near Branson, Missouri. There Bakker has exchanged the prosperity gospel for doomsday apocalypticism, finding a way to turn a profit by selling freeze-dried survival food and gear to preppers. He has also turned to conservative politics, aligning with Donald Trump. It is brilliant, in a way, connecting to current trends and a new base of support.

    Whichever path the Falwells choose, they will not be the last of their kind.

    Much of American evangelicalism?s success rests on its close connection to American popular culture. But appropriating cultural expectations is risky business. Lines blur and compromises are ignored until scandal erupts.

    Holy Shit Jerry Falwell Sr. Used to go after PTL's Jim and Tammy Bakker back in the 1980's exactly the same way that we are looking at the former Liberty University leader.

  25. #25
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    Dudes wife is a freak! Love women like that.

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