'Evangelicals for Harris' claims Franklin Graham lawyers attempting to remove ads from social media
The political action committee Evangelicals for Harris claimed that lawyers associated with evangelist Franklin Graham have been attempting to get their ads featuring his father removed from social media.
"Knowing he'll lose in court, [Franklin Graham's] lawyers are now sending repeat letters to trigger automatic blocks on our accounts. He's fear [sic] Christians sharing the truth. But we keep winning," the Evangelicals for Harris X accounted tweeted Friday.
The PAC also claimed that Meta, formerly known as Facebook, restored their page on the platform after it was disabled amid intellectual property reports.
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Knowing he'll lose in court, @Franklin_Graham lawyers are now sending repeat letters to trigger automatic blocks on our accounts. He's fear Christians sharing the truth. But we keep winning:
— Evangelicals For Harris (@Evangels4Harris) November 1, 2024
"I understand that you recently had your Page disabled due to one or more intellectual… pic.twitter.com/7Kv9JjW5bY
Last month, legal counsel for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association sent a cease-and-desist letter to Evangelicals for Harris after they rolled out a $1 million ad campaign in September using footage of the late Rev. Billy Graham to attack former President Donald Trump.
The ads feature clips from historic Graham sermons intercut with clips from Trump to suggest that the former president falls short of Graham's Gospel message.
A spokesperson for BGEA told The Christian Post at the time that the Charlotte, North Carolina-based nonprofit generally avoids commenting on current or potential disputes but confirmed that Evangelicals for Harris had been notified of alleged copyright infringement.
"We have communicated directly to this group our concerns about the unauthorized, political use of BGEA's copyrighted video, and we will continue taking appropriate steps to address the matter," the spokesperson said.
The BGEA spokesperson suggested that Graham himself, who expressed regret for getting too close to some politicians, would have taken umbrage at his sermons being used to promote any political candidate.
"It may be worth noting that, in all of his years of ministry and across relationships with 11 U.S. presidents, Billy Graham sought only to encourage them and to offer them the counsel of Christ, as revealed through God's Word," the spokesperson said. "He never criticized presidents publicly and would undoubtedly refuse to let his sermons be used to do so, regardless of who is involved."
In response to the letter, Evangelicals for Harris released a formal legal response claiming that "limited use of Billy Graham’s speech falls squarely within the fair use protections afforded by Section 107 of the Copyright Act."
The Graham family has become a recurring theme regarding Evangelicals for Harris, with Franklin Graham's niece, Jerushah Duford, delivering messages in support of the PAC and endorsing Harris while publicly attacking her uncle.
Duford, whose mother is Billy Graham's eldest daughter, recently penned an op-ed in Newsweek endorsing Harris and claiming Trump is "a megalomaniac."
The Christian Post has reached out to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for comment about the most recent claim from Evangelicals for Harris and will update this story if they respond.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
