Former Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. Shows Up at Event, Says He’s Holding ‘The Real Liberty Graduation’

Former Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. showed up at an event attended by students and talked up holding the “real” graduation.

You may recall that last year, Falwell resigned as president of Liberty University amid serious controversy. Falwell said, prior to his resignation, that his wife had an affair with a pool boy who he alleged went on to blackmail them. That pool boy, Giancarlo Granda, gave an interview speaking out about the affair.

Following his resignation, Liberty announced an investigation into Falwell, and earlier this month the university filed a lawsuit against him alleging breach of contract, among other things, and saying “despite his clear duties as an executive and officer at Liberty, Falwell Jr. chose personal protection.”

This week, Religion News Service reported on Falwell on stage at an event attended by students where he said, “We’re going to have the real Liberty graduation.”

Reached by RNS on Friday (April 30), Falwell said he was joking about the party being the “real” Liberty graduation. The planned event at his 500-acre farm, where his family has lived for 33 years, is “my way of saying thank you” to the students, who he said have supported him through the past year of controversy.

“I just want to thank the students because they’ve shown me so much love through all this ordeal. Everywhere I go, they’re so forgiving. They’re so loving. And I want to reciprocate by having them out to my farm,” he said.

Falwell gave an interview to Politico earlier this month saying, “The employees and the board have been nothing but supportive, 100 percent. The students all want to get their picture with me. They thank me.”

In his interview with RNS, he said it’s “evil what some of these people at Liberty are doing just to try to grab power.”