If you’ve been watching “The Righteous Gemstones” on HBO, then you weren’t surprised when you read the Politico report on Jerry Falwell Jr., who comes across in the piece as a real-life Jesse Gemstone, the over-the-top wayward-son televangelist portrayed by Danny McBride.
For starters, there’s the talk from people at Liberty University about how Falwell is “very, very vocal” about his sex life, including talk about how his wife couldn’t handle his penis size.
Which, ewww.
Then you have the matter involving suggestive photos of his wife, Becki, in a French maid costume that he is said to have intended to send to their personal trainer, which, odd, but instead he bumbled and sent to a wider group, including at least one Liberty University employee.
Falwell Jr., of course, denies that the photo in question even exists.
Reuters first reported on the matter in May, including the detail that former Trump fixer Michael Cohen had helped Falwell Jr. deal with the fallout from “scandalous photos.”
The Miami Herald confirmed in June that the scandalous photos exist.
Enough with the sex. The rest of the story is about money.
It’s always about money.
The telling pull quote:
“We’re not a school; we’re a real estate hedge fund,” said a senior university official with inside knowledge of Liberty’s finances. “We’re not educating; we’re buying real estate every year and taking students’ money to do it.”
The report is definitely worth a read.
Helps explain why Falwell Jr. threw his heft (a-yo!) behind Donald Trump.
Unrelated news: HBO announced Monday that “The Righteous Gemstones” has been renewed for a Season 2.
Art imitating life, indeed.
Story by Chris Graham
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