Evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr., the head of Liberty University and a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump, denied the explosive allegations made in a Politico story that dropped this week. He also claimed to be the victim of an “attempted coup” at the university.
But at least one of Falwell’s denials is already falling apart. He denied being on the Miami party scene at the Wall club in 2014.
“There was no picture snapped of me at Wall nightclub or any other nightclub,” Falwell said, and claimed any image showing as much was “photo-shopped.”
Politico posted the images on its website. Then, after Falwell’s “photo-shop” accusation, the agency that provided the pics stepped in.
“For 21 years, I have maintained an impeccable reputation for documenting Miami Beach’s storied social scene,” wrote Seth Browarnik, founder of the World Red Eye photo agency.
Browarnik said he initially didn’t know why Politico was interested in buying one of his 2014 images. When Browarnik learned that it was because Falwell was one of the partiers ― and that the evangelical leader had claimed it was a fake ― he searched his archives and located more pictures of Falwell and his son, Trey Falwell, then posted the images on his website.
Browarnik told The Miami Herald that Falwell’s accusation had motivated him to dig through his archives to find more.
“If you want to say you weren’t there, fine. But going and saying I ’photo-shopped?” he said. “This is coming after my livelihood and reputation, which is pristine.”
In the Sept. 9 article, Politico reported that more than two dozen current and former Liberty University officials “describe a culture of fear and self-dealing” at the Christian college. Sources claim the conservative leader was partying in nightclubs and graphically discussing his sex life with employees.
Twitter users also slammed Falwell for “hypocrisy,” especially given that, as Politico reported, Liberty University restricts co-ed dancing and forbids drinking: