Jerry Falwell Jr. officially resigns as president of Liberty University amid sex scandal
Jerry Falwell Jr. officially resigned as president of Liberty University late Monday over the alleged sex scandal involving him, his wife and a pool boy.
Officials at the ultra-conservative Virginia school had
already announced his resignation earlier in the day — but Falwell denied it,
insisting he was just on “indefinite leave.”
The university’s general counsel said Falwell initially
agreed to resign, only to change his mind and tell his lawyers “to not tender
the letter for immediate resignation” after media outlets announced it.
But as the scandal over his family’s sexcapades exploded
Monday, both the embattled religious leader and the university confirmed to ABC
News that he submitted his formal resignation letter to the school late Monday
night.
“I was never called to be a pastor, my calling was to use my
legal and business expertise to make Liberty University the evangelical version
of Notre Dame,” Falwell told ABC News.
“Some of us are called to be preachers, that wasn’t mine. I
was called to make Liberty University the greatest Christian university’s in
the world and I couldn’t have done that as a preacher.”
The school’s acting president, Jerry Prevo, called for
prayers “as we walk with the Lord through this stormy time of transition.”
The conservative leader had already been on indefinite leave
overseeing Liberty after a photo surfaced showing him with his jeans unzipped
and an arm around a woman who wasn’t his wife.
Falwell, the son of late famed televangelist Jerry Falwell
Sr., then revealed in a statement to the Washington Examiner on Sunday that he
and wife Becki were allegedly being extorted by a former pool boy who had an
affair with his spouse.
He claimed that he was not involved in the pair’s illicit
romps but the former lover, Giancarlo Granda, claimed that not only was Falwell
aware of his wife’s sexcapades, he enjoyed watching them.
In a statement to ABC, the university referred to
“additional matters” that “made it clear that it would not be in the best
interest of the University for him to return from leave and serve as
President.”
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