According to recent reports, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s legal team has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Evangelicals for Harris organization after releasing an ad using footage of the late Rev. Billy Graham in an advertisement against former President Donald Trump, seeking to win over the majority-conservative Christian vote.
“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,” a spokesperson from the North Carolina-based evangelistic organization, as reported by the Christian Post.
The spokesperson added the nonprofit usually refrains from commenting on disputes but confirmed that it has threatened Evangelical for Harris with a lawsuit over alleged copyright infringement. It was further noted that Rev. Graham eventually regretted getting so involved with politics, where the spokesperson maintained that Graham would not have condoned the use of his sermons in such a way to criticize a 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 added. “He never criticized presidents publicly and would undoubtedly refuse to let his sermons be used to do so, regardless of who is involved.”
However, Evangelicals for Harris responded to the cease-and-desist, claiming that it falls within the bounds of legal use. The group argued that the “limited use of Billy Graham’s speech falls squarely within the fair use protections afforded by Section 107 of the Copyright Act.”
The Christian Tribune previously reported on criticism from Franklin Graham, who denounced Evangelicals for Harris over their usage of his father’s likeness in the political ad. Franklin emphasized that his father would have undoubtedly been a supporter of former President Donald Trump if he were still alive today.
“The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris,” Graham wrote in the post. “They even developed a political ad trying to use my father [Billy Graham’s] image. They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President [Trump] in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.”
However, the group hit back at Franklin, “Franklin has placed his hope in a man and a darkness we saw manifest when police lines were overrun at our nation’s Capitol on January 6, in Springfield this past month, and in the spirit of fear and anger fed at every Trump rally Franklin attends. Our hope is not in any man or woman but in Christ alone.”
“Our call is to serve, to witness Christ’s love and compassion, and to follow His example of standing between the hypocritical religious leaders and the social outcast. We know the law is on our side in this case. If Franklin follows through on his threats, we’ll see him in court,” the PAC continued.
Featured image credit: Featured image credit: By Paul M. Walsh – Billy and Franklin Graham, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4934708