Jerry Falwell Jr. Responds to Playboy Photo Controversy

Veronica Neffinger

Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…
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Updated Jun 22, 2016

Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. responded to tweets criticizing him for a photo he posted to Twitter that shows Falwell and his wife, along with Donald Trump, standing in front of a framed picture of Playboy magazine in Trump’s New York office.

TheBlaze.com reports that Falwell was participating in a forum between Trump and many other evangelical leaders on Tuesday when the picture was taken. Falwell tweeted:

Honored to introduce @realDonaldTrump at religious leader summit in NYC today! He did incredible job! @beckifalwell pic.twitter.com/e2eBSbQwb0
— J L Falwell (@JerryJrFalwell) June 21, 2016

Falwell's Twitter followers soon noticed the picture of Playboy magazine in the background of the photo and criticized Fallwell for it.

@JerryJrFalwell @realDonaldTrump @beckifalwell Nice Playboy cover in the shot! Really brings out colours of the hypocrisy on display.
— JordanHeath-Rawlings (@TheGameSheet) June 21, 2016

Kim K tweeted:

@JerryJrFalwell @realDonaldTrump @beckifalwell Would you post that framed Playboy cover at Liberty?
— Kim K (@kimkuz) June 21, 2016

Falwell responded to some of the tweets, refusing to back down from his position supporting Trump and saying that the critics were acting like the Pharisees in Jesus' time.

Falwell has been criticized since first endorsing Trump, Trump is attempting to appeal to evangelicals, but many Christian leaders remain opposed to him.