Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Falwell Apologizes for Tweet That Included Racist Photo
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
June 9, 2020

Share

RICHMOND, Va. — Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. apologized Monday for a tweet that included a racist photo that appeared on Gov. Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook page decades ago.
“After listening to African American LU leaders and alumni over the past week and hearing their concerns, I understand that by tweeting an image to remind all of the governor’s racist past I actually refreshed the trauma that image had caused and offended some by using the image to make a political point,” he tweeted Monday.


Falwell, a stalwart backer of President Donald Trump and the son of the late evangelist the Rev. Jerry Falwell, said he had deleted the tweet and apologized “for any hurt my effort caused, especially within the African American community.”
Falwell’s apology comes after nearly three dozen black alumni denounced him last week, writing in a letter that his rhetoric has “repeatedly violated and misrepresented” Christian principles. They said they would stop urging students to attend Liberty, would no longer donate to the university and would urge fellow people of faith to avoid speaking at the school unless Falwell changes his behavior or steps aside.
An online instructor for Liberty, a black pastor who also teaches at Ithaca College, also announced his resignation online in response to the tweet.
Organizers of last week’s alumni letter responded to Falwell’s apology with a note of thanks, adding that they “are hopeful that healing and reconciliation can” result from it. The alumni also sought a meeting to discuss further changes, including the involvement of more “ethnically diverse pastors and advisors” on Falwell’s leadership team and the school’s board of trustees.
In late May, Falwell tweeted his opposition to a mask mandate from Gov. Ralph Northam in order to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

He Initially Shrugged off the African American Alumni’s Concerns

Falwell tweeted that he was “adamantly opposed” to the mask mandate “until I decided to design my own.” With it, he posted a picture of a mask bearing a racist photo that appeared on Northam’s medical yearbook page and — when made public last year — sparked a scandal that nearly forced him from office. The photo showed a person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan costume.
Falwell told The Associated Press at the time that his comment about the blackface scandal was made in defense of Liberty students, including minorities, who would be affected by tuition assistance cuts in a budget passed by the state legislature and signed by Northam.
He initially shrugged off the African American alumni’s concerns, saying in an interview last week that “I don’t blame” them for speaking out but that they “don’t know all that context” he was attempting to share in the now-deleted tweet. He also defended his involvement in politics as in line with Christian values, saying that Jesus criticized “the establishment of his day.”
Whether Falwell’s apology quells what had become a growing tide of criticism of his leadership style and occasionally inflammatory comments remains an open question.
Kaitlyn Schiess, a 2016 Liberty graduate who now lives in Dallas, said the apology itself was a surprise. But she was skeptical that it would significantly “change the minds of anyone who’s already been incredibly frustrated by his political support of Donald Trump and a lot of the statements he’s made.”
Falwell’s reversal and apology also come as a growing number of evangelical groups align with peaceful demonstrations seeking action on racial justice in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Mitt Romney of Utah became the first GOP senator to participate a march against police brutality on Sunday, joining a group of nonpartisan marchers, among them evangelical Christians.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Naomi Kaylynn Acker

DON'T MISS

Conclave to Elect a New Pope Will Start on May 7 as Cardinals Get to Know One Another

DON'T MISS

California Faces Automaker Backlash Over 2035 Gas Car Ban

DON'T MISS

Wall Street Mixed in Start to Busy Week for Earnings, Data

DON'T MISS

Will California Meet Newsom’s 2035 EV Deadline? It Won’t Even Hit the 2026 Target 

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

DON'T MISS

Is It Bad to Chew Gum All Day?

DON'T MISS

Dollar Doubts Dominate Gathering of Global Economic Leaders

DON'T MISS

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

DON'T MISS

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

UP NEXT

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

UP NEXT

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

UP NEXT

Shedeur Sanders Is Still Waiting for a Call as the NFL Draft Enters the Final Day

UP NEXT

Israel’s AI Experiments in the War in Gaza Raise Ethical Concerns

UP NEXT

Paul Skenes Strikes Out 9, Wins Duel With Yamamoto in Pirates’ Victory Over Dodgers

UP NEXT

Eovaldi Outlasts Verlander as Rangers Beat Giants

UP NEXT

Rams Take Oregon Tight End Terrance Ferguson in Second Round After Trading Out of First

UP NEXT

The Latest: Francis Is Remembered as a ‘Pope Among the People’ as He Is Laid to Rest

UP NEXT

Trump Now Doubts Putin Wants to End Ukraine War, a Day After Saying a Deal Was Close

UP NEXT

Virginia Giuffre, Voice in Epstein Sex Trafficking Scandal, Dies at 41

Wall Street Mixed in Start to Busy Week for Earnings, Data

28 minutes ago

Will California Meet Newsom’s 2035 EV Deadline? It Won’t Even Hit the 2026 Target 

1 day ago

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

2 days ago

Is It Bad to Chew Gum All Day?

2 days ago

Dollar Doubts Dominate Gathering of Global Economic Leaders

2 days ago

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

2 days ago

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

2 days ago

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

2 days ago

ICE Deports the Mother of an Infant and a 2-Year-Old Who Is a US Citizen

2 days ago

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

2 days ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Naomi Kaylynn Acker

April 28, 2025 Most Wanted Person of the Day Suspect Name: Naomi Kaylynn Acker Suspects Date of Birth: July 17, 1997 Physical Description: W...

11 minutes ago

Naomi Kaylynn Acker is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for April 28, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
11 minutes ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Naomi Kaylynn Acker

St Peter's Basilica is seen in the background as a cardinal arrives for a college of cardinals' meeting, at the Vatican, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
19 minutes ago

Conclave to Elect a New Pope Will Start on May 7 as Cardinals Get to Know One Another

People charge their electric cars at a Tesla super charging station next to an EVgo electric charging location in Carlsbad, California, U.S., March 7, 2022. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)
25 minutes ago

California Faces Automaker Backlash Over 2035 Gas Car Ban

A woman walks down Wall Street in New York City, U.S., April 8, 2025. (REUTERS/Kylie Cooper)
28 minutes ago

Wall Street Mixed in Start to Busy Week for Earnings, Data

1 day ago

Will California Meet Newsom’s 2035 EV Deadline? It Won’t Even Hit the 2026 Target 

2 days ago

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

2 days ago

Is It Bad to Chew Gum All Day?

2 days ago

Dollar Doubts Dominate Gathering of Global Economic Leaders

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend