Review: 'God Forbid: The Sex Scandal that Brought Down a Dynasty' Connects the Dots

Adam McKay and director Billy Corben co-produce "God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty," the two-hour documentary about the downfall of former Liberty University president Jerry Falwell, Jr.

Eventually reduced to a "pool boy" meme, Giancarlo Granda had been an attendant at Miami's Fontainebleau Hotel in 2012, where Falwell's wife, Becky, first propositioned him. After some persuading, Giancarlo joined her for non-penetrative sex while Jerry watched. Becki gave him a good review on Trip Advisor. Their affair continued for seven years, but Giancarlo, who narrates most of the film, states:

"If I had thought that accepting this woman's invitation to go back to her hotel room would have led to interactions with the president of the largest Christian University in the world, and the president of the United States, I would have walked away and just enjoyed my private life."

Jerry Junior, son of Old-Time Gospel Hour founder and self-righteous hate-monger Jerry Senior, inherited his father's media empire and the mantle as president of the sprawling Lynchburg, Virginia campus when Dad died. Liberty University had a strict morality code, which included dressing modestly, no swearing, no dancing, no alcohol, no hugging, and no sex – draconian rules which the most influential couple of the evangelical Christian movement broke regularly and flagrantly, often within the vicinity of their own three children, who were around the same age as Giancarlo.

Giancarlo had been born Catholic, and Jerry Senior had founded his Christian communications conglomerate, as well as LU, in the 1970s. He also founded the Moral Majority cult, which helped elect Ronald Reagan and made him up to $100 million per year. Senior was a white supremacist who started his own segregationist academy, too. Senior blamed gay people for the 9/11 attacks, railed against pornography, and threatened feminists and pro-choice activists. When he was 18, Junior started dating Becki, who was 13 at the time, and whose father was jailed for tax fraud. Documentary interviewees say that Becki and Jerry Junior were psychologically and emotionally intertwined, and were like "the Southern Gatsbys: Wealthy and sloppy."

Falwell Junior set out to be a real estate lawyer, but started to work at the university to get it out of debt. He was never a good fit for a public-facing role, an interviewee says, but "part of the dynasty is that they can do whatever the fuck they want."

Three weeks after their first meeting, Junior invited Giancarlo to New York to have more sex with Becki. He also used his legal acumen to construct the cover story that they were real estate co-investors. When Giancarlo returned to Miami, he asked his friend, Jesus, (and his father Jesus Senior) to help him find a hostel property to purchase and manage, using a $4.5 million "investment" (hush money) from Junior.

Becki continued to hound Giancarlo like a horny teenager, constantly calling, texting, and demanding love. The Falwells are referred to as predators throughout the movie, and alternately bribed or threatened him with exposure. Then the couple was then blackmailed by Jesus Senior and Junior. The Falwells then turned to their friend Donald Trump and his fixer, Michael Cohen, to get the Jesus family to back off. Trump and Cohen then had leverage over the Falwells, who forced them to endorse the Trump presidential run, which brought along the rest of the evangelicals. Junior was now a kingmaker; his college became "the Fox News of universities" and a place to hold hate rallies in their large convocation center.

Junior was offered the Secretary of Education position in the Trump administration, but he declined and instead stayed at Liberty, drinking tequila from a water bottle and hitting on coeds.

The filmmakers liken this racist, misogynistic hypocrisy as the groundwork for today's current political violence, which "unleashed demons that we no longer can control."

But politics, hysteria, and demagoguery are the way that Christian phonies make money, the doc explains, even though Junior is "just a cuck in the corner," as Giancarlo calls him. The young man started to attend Georgetown University, but Becki's jealousy and Junior's control prevented him from getting jobs. So he decided to get even and speak his truth via a Reuters expose, deciding that "everyone is coming down with me." Jesus and Gian's testimony and electronic evidence (texts and videos) led to Jerry's resignation.

Yet, the Black Sheep of the Christian Right certainly shepherded his father's desire to overturn Roe, and the film makes a direct and damning line from the Falwells' demented religious hypocrisy to the Trump election to the takeover of many American institutions by Christian ideologues. Audiences are encouraged to watch the film and understand those connections to Christian extremists who live all around us and want to turn the government into a theocracy.

"God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty" premieres November 1 on Hulu.