If you ever worried love made you stupid, fear not. Love made Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife, Becki, much, much stupider.
For those who’ve had their head underwater (that pun will make sense in a minute) and have no idea what we’re talking about, let us refresh your memory: Back in 2019, reports surfaced that anti-LGBTQ activist (and then Liberty University president) Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife, Becki, were engaged in a seven-year illicit affair with their twentysomething pool boy, Giancarlo Granda.
Now, Granda is telling his side of the story in an explosive, juicy, and utterly titillating new documentary on Hulu named God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty. It comes from acclaimed filmmaker Billy Corben (Cocaine Cowboys, The U), and is streaming now.
We had a chance to watch the new doc on Hulu yesterday. Below are six of the most shocking things we learned in God Forbid…
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Granda’s first “date” with the Falwells was at a Days Inn
Giancarlo Granda was 20 when he met Jerry and Becki Falwell while working as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012.
In the doc, he recalls his first conversation with Becki, which started with her seductively telling him, “You don’t want one of those young girls. You want a woman who knows what she’s doing,” which, LOL, how unoriginal can this woman be with her pick up lines?! But whatever, it worked on Granda, so that’s cool for her.
Anyway, because the Falwells are such a BFD, they asked Granda to meet them at a f*cking Days Inn, which, hey, there are worse places to have your first hookup… but c’mon. Y’all can do better!
Their sex life didn’t actually sound all that fun
The first few times they hooked up, Becki and the hubs allegedly had an “anything but” rule, where Becki and Granda could only do oral sex while Jerry watched. However, that later changed when Becki caught feels–at which point Granda could go “all the way.” Wink wink.
And Jerry was part of it all! The way Granda describes it, Jerry went from “lurking in the shadows” to “going for round two” on his wife when Granda finished–which, ew, please erase that entire image from my memory forever!!
Things became even more twisted when the three of them would take family trips with the Falwell’s three children. According to Granda, “it was Jerry’s job to distract the kids” so Becki and him could have sex. “As long as they recorded it,” Jerry was fine with them boinking without him being present.
Another fun fact from the doc: Becki liked to refer to Granda and her kids as “siblings,” which uhm, I Am. Unwell.
Becki Falwell is absolutely 100% unhinged when it comes to love
Cue Beyoncé, cause love’s got Becki lookin’ so crazy right now! Throughout God Forbid, Becki is portrayed as someone with very much the emotional intelligence of a blade of grass.
For starters, it’s revealed she is the first woman outside of Granda’s family to say “I love you” to him, which, you sweet dear boy, RUN!
Second, she’s generally just completely batsh*t toward Granda. When Granda started dating a girl his own age, Becki allegedly did not take it well. “God put us together,” she’d text him. If he didn’t respond within a couple hours, she would call him crying. And then Jerry would call.
She’d also blow up Granda’s phone with weird inspirational love quotes, and send him songs like “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi. Which, girlie, let’s calm down, okay?
“It went from fun and sex to ‘now we’re going to control you,’” Granda describes in the show.
Did we mention this woman was well into her 40s at this point? Yeah…
The truth about that x-rated photo scandal is revealed and yep, Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, and Tom Arnold (?!) are involved
Oh my god, where do we even begin here? Let us give you the SparkNotes:
In May 2018, BuzzFeed was the first to report that Jerry–who was the first major evangelist leader to endorse Trump for president in 2016–and “a young pool attendant” were being sued over a business dispute involving two brothers in Miami.
A year later, in May 2019, news broke that Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney, allegedly helped prevent the release of some racy photos shortly before Jerry endorsed Trump for president… leading many (including us!) to speculate if the “pool boy” was involved, or possibly even blackmailing the Falwells. Of course, there was lots of back and forth on if such photos existed and who exactly they were of.
Tom Arnold also entered the chat at one point, corroborating with Cohen that the photos did exist while filming an episode of his (poorly reviewed) show, The Hunt for the Trump Tapes.
The internet went wild, and Twitter did its thing.
As the documentary reveals, it was actually the two brothers from Miami who were in possession of steamy pics of Granda and Becki, and were threatening to expose their sexcapades. As soon as Becki heard what the bros were up to, she reached out to Michael Cohen to get involved… and he eventually got the photos back.
Case closed. It was A LOT.
Granda contemplated suicide amid all the media scrutiny
File this under actually really sad: Before going public with his story, Granda says all the media speculation impacted this ability to get a job, due to the fact that anyone could Google his name and find it dripping in scandal.
At one point, he was offered a job, only to have it rescinded a day later. Granda believes the Falwells may have had something to do with it, given he was desperately trying to distance himself from the couple at that point.
All this led to Granda feeling hopeless and contemplating suicide.
However, in the summer of 2020, spurred by the pandemic, George Floyd’s murder, and wanting to escape the Falwells’ clutches, Granda was empowered to not let “people take advantage any longer” and instead, “get even.” We stan!
So he called up Reuters, and decided to share the truth with the world.
Both Jerry and Becki had some ahem, choice words for Granda after his Reuters interview was published
Publishing the Reuters story was no walk in the park. For months, the reporter working on the story, Aram Roston, was having a hard time finding solid evidence that proved Jerry was in on Granda and Becki’s affair.
Eventually, Becki called Granda over FaceTime, started stripping, and went around the house explaining all the places they had sex. During the end of the FaceTime, Becki panned over to Jerry, who was playfully peeking out from the side of a door… thus, giving Roston the evidence he needed.
But that didn’t stop Jerry from trying to kill the story!
The day before the Reuters article was published, he came out with his own puzzling story on conservative site, the Washington Examiner, where he essentially threw Becki under the bus (LOL!), saying she had an affair he knew nothing about and this was all an extortion scheme from Granda (double LOL!!).
Regardless, the Falwells were none too happy seeing their love affair exposed to everyone on the internet.
According to the doc, after the story hit, Becki texted Granda, “Hope you’re happy and were paid well!” while Jerry strayed true to his anti-LGBTQ form with a homophobic text of his own, writing to Granda, “Hope you drop the soap in prison.”
Sigh. Cheers to Giancarlo Granda for being able to swim far, far away from these two bigots.
God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty is now streaming on Hulu.
GlobeTrotter
Sigh…not sure what to think about this. On one hand, it’s really no business what the Falwells get up to in private or who they choose to boink. Boink the hot poolboy, boink the cute cheerleader, whatever floats your boat. It’s really sad that their sex lives is being described with such salacious headlines, as if having a fulfilled sex life is reserved only for the young, hot and liberal.
On the other hand however, I suspect no one would have cared a flying *fig* if the Falwells weren’t tainted by so much moral hypocrisy, which just confirms my long-held belief: the holier the preacher, the filthier the sex. All that sanctimoniousness has to get balanced out somehow…
James
What a cowardly response.
It is everybody’s business when one is having affairs and at the same time putting others down for having affairs, especially gay people. I am glad Falwell was outed, one less phony narcissistic hypocrite trying to keep gay people down. If you can’t see that then you like being a victim.
jsmu
Oh puhleeeeaze. The Christofascists have made this everyone’s business and THEN some.
They deserve ruination *and* ridicule. They are hatemongers and fascists.
henare
If the students at their university behaved like this the students would become *persona non grata* and their education and degree plans would be at risk.
These aren’t disinterested parties here … They are actually setting an example that their students can’t follow.
Try harder.
SFMike
It’s the hypocrisy of course, as it usually is with our enemies on the Christian right and it’s important to detail the acts to rub in the faces of the rubes that these lying con-men and con-women are doing everything that they are condemning their parishioners for and asking for money from them at the same time. They need to be shown what sucker they are. Know the enemy and the corrupt Falwell family has always been a major enemy of gay people and democracy in the increasingly Christofascist USA.
tjack47
I don’t care what anyone does in their sex life, but it’s the hypocrisy and self-righteous religious scorn of LGBTQ+ folks that is maddening. I’m an atheist, so f*ck them and their cult. So much power to use against people. Sickening.
jerry2435
I totally agree with you comment regarding hypocrisy and self righteous towards LGBTQ+
bachy
Haven’t started watching Hulu’s God Forbid yet so I’m going to have to come back and comment at a later date. But I respect others’ privacy until I discover that they are publicly condemning others for what they are doing in private.
RoughRugger
…and it’s zero secret that Falwell does exactly that. The things he & his wife did with Granda would’ve gotten any of the students at Falwell’s school expelled.
SDR94103
so gross. NO
Fahd
How are the Falwell’s three children handling this? I guess everyone assumes they were lost causes from the get go, but as innocents in this, they deserve a chance.
henare
I’m sure it feels like “Oh, we always knew momma and daddy were whores … “
Just.my.opinion
I watched this documentary last night. It was fascinating, frightening, and nauseating. I wish Mr. Granda a happy life. I won’t say what I wish for the rest of this cast of characters.
ShiningSex
it all seems boring.
Major
The “do as I say, not as I do” crowd got an awakening.
Cheers to everyone except the bigoted Falwell couple.
fur_hunter
Falwell is such a F UC….. KING, LYING, Piece of $ H!T, HYPOCRITE! May he rot in the hell he keeps telling us QUEERS we are going to.
Beanie16
Modern right wing Christianity have become as someone else said “Christofascist”. I have ZERO TOLERANCE for any religion anymore and wish we could start taxing them. And we libs need to wake up and arm ourselves. Learn self defense and then arm yourselves with at the very least mace and or tasers. If you are having a drag event make sure the police are aware and ask for protection, not that they will but at least they are aware. And if these freaks show up at an event you’re at call the police and tell them you are afraid for your life. I wish that these Oath Keepers that disrupt Drag Story hour or any drag event could be personally sued in civil court for intimidation and for causing PTSD, domestic terrorism? Sue these people out of their homes jobs trucks and guns and they will back down.
#taxthechurch #lockupoathkeepers #
BigJohnSF
I might be interested if any of these people were attractive.
Saps48
I don’t think Grenada is telling the whole story, it is only logical that Jerry got a taste of that chlorine-soaked c*ck at least once; I’m sure he tasted Grenada’s load as he lapped it out of his wife’s pus*y. (Sorry, it had to be said.)
RyanMBecker
If I’m not mistaken, the Falwells later admitted that “it was all an act.” They were not the religious nuts that pretended to be. In fact, it was implied that they weren’t even religious. Can’t remember where I read it but this interested can do a websearch.
Diplomat
I remember reading the same thing. I can only imagine there are lots of preachers and priests that feel the same way. That religion is all a money stealing lie.
Rambeaux
He left out the part where Jerry crawls across the floor on all fours and begs to to lick the juice from Giancarlo’s throbbing member after boffing the Becky. (Sorry. I grew up reading trashy Novels.)
Giancarlo should hit the gym. He is starting to look like a blow-up pool toy.
And he should invest the money that he makes from this, wisely. He has no more stories to sell.
bachy
“Giancarlo should hit the gym. He is starting to look like a blow-up pool toy.”
Merciless!!!
JeffBaker
I really, really, really, really, really wish Jerry Sr. was around to see this!
Salacious1
As someone who saw firsthand the goings on at South Beach, the Fountainbleau & the Youth Hostel deal with Giancarlo, Falwell & his son, there are no heroes here. The Falwells have since gone on record that neither believe in religion and it was all a money-making scam to cash in on his father’s reputation and contacts. The hypocrisy is incredible.
And, yes. It was Jerry who first spotted Giancarlo. And he wasn’t the first boy toy. Students at his ‘University’ can tell stories too.
Rambeaux
I also wondered what the cozy family and their Thanksgiving dinners must have looked like.
Did the kids pipe up and yell “dibbies on the whore” ?
barryaksarben
I am petty and vengeful when it come to assholes who have worked against the gay community of which I belong. F them and I hope the story never dies. Maybe if their children suffer like many gay kids haver it would only be fair. They got all that money for good therapy.Fthem and any one who thinks we shouldn’t be just as vicious as they have been towards us. NO MORE FREE PASSES