Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - His Sex Scandal Changed The World - The Jerry Falwell Jr. story

Episode Date: February 2, 2025

This is the story of Jerry Falwell Jr and Becki Falwell and how their relationship with a Miami pool attendant Giancarlo Granda.

So this guy is a pool boy, and he's about to smash with a married woman, and that is going to get this man elected president. Let me explain. Now the pool boy, let's just call him pool boy. And pool boy, he's a 20-year-old college student working as a pool attendant at a fancy hotel in Miami. And one day, he's at work attending to the pool when he notices this woman, Becky with an eye. And Becky with an eye is not only staring at him, but she's low-key taking pictures of him. And so Pool Boy goes over and they start chatting and they're checking each other out.

And even though Becky with an eye is more than twice his age, Pool Boy thinks she is foin! And later that day, Becky with an eye invites Pool Boy back to her hotel room for a little something something. And Pull Boy's like, all right. But that's not the only thing she says to him. She also says, and by the way, my husband's going to be there and he likes to watch. Shit is about to get freaky. So they go back to her hotel room, and Becky with an eye's husband is there.

This guy, Jerry. And Pool Boy and Becky with an eye, they hook up while Jerry sits in the corner watching. Hmm, yeah. And they finish or whatever, and Jerry and Becky with an eye, they head back home because they live in a different state. But Becky with an Eye stays in touch with Pool Boy,

and they text each other, and they flirt, and she sends him, like, adult photos of herself, and she and Pool Boy seem to really like each other. And they meet up a few more times and they all become friends and they hang out and they smash or whatever. And Jerry's there while they're smashing and he's like watching. Hmm, yeah.

Okay, but here's the thing about Jerry and Becky with an eye. Turns out, Jerry is a big deal in the Christian world. He's basically evangelical royalty. He's the son of this religious leader and Total Nut Job, Jerry Falwell Sr. Jerry's also the president of the biggest Christian university in the United States, Liberty University, a university that his dad founded, a university that makes its students follow very strict moral rules. Like they're not allowed to drink alcohol or attend dances and they can't be alone in a room with someone of the opposite sex. So this is a university that would very much frown upon Jerry sitting in the corner watching his wife, smash with another man. Hmm, yeah. So anyway, about a month or so later,

Pool Boy meets up with Jerry and Becky with an eye again, and they're at dinner, and Jerry offers him a business deal. He says he's interested in buying real estate property in Miami, Florida, where Pool Boy lives, and that if Pool Boy agrees to manage that property, they'll give him equity in it. And so Pool Boy's like, all right, sounds like a good deal. So he goes and he talks to his friend,

This guy, Jesus. Because Jesus, his dad works in real estate in Miami. His dad is also named Jesus. And so Pool Boy wants the Jesuses to help him find a real estate property that he can manage. And eventually the Hay Sususes do find a property, a hostel. And Jerry and Becky with an eye, they come to Miami and they scout out this hostile property and they love it. And while they're down there in Miami, Becky with an Eye and Pool Boy, they drink and they go dancing and they smash. while Jerry sits in the corner watching, and I guess it's a great time.

Mm, yeah. So anyway, they buy this hostel for $4.6 million, and Jerry asked Pool Boy to manage it, and he offers him 24% equity in the company. It's a pretty good deal for him. And so soon enough, Pull Boy starts running this hostel, and he's doing a pretty good job. And he and Becky with an eye, they're still texting and whatnot, and everyone involved in this relationship seems to be getting exactly what they want. Mm, yeah.

Until. About a year or so after the hostel deal closes, the Hesuses reach out to Pull Boy, and they're mad, and they're threatening to sue. Because they suddenly want 50% of Pool Boy's equity stake in the hostel, or they say they're going to tell the world about his weird relationship with this powerful Christian couple, and basically ruin all of their reputations.

The Hesuses are essentially trying to blackmail them. And so they all go backmail them. back and forth and things get ugly and the Jesus claim that they somehow got a hold of compromising adult photos of pool boy and Becky with an eye smashing and they say that they're going to release them if they don't pay up and of course Jerry and Becky with an eye they're terrified I mean if this secret gets out this could ruin their lives I mean they don't know what they're going to do so they call a lawyer they know a very well connected lawyer this guy Michael and they ask him to work his magic and do his thing and make the Hesuces go away and make sure those compromising photos never go public.

And Michael, he's like, alright. And so Michael intervenes and he does his job and he does his job well, I guess, because the photos never come out and the lawsuit goes away. The Hesuces eventually settle. Now, allegedly, because Michael did this favor for Jerry and Becky with an eye, he now wants them to do a favor for him. Because Michael has a client who's planning on running for president of the United States. And he wants Jerry, the religious leader, the president of the largest Christian university in the country, to endorse his presidential candidate and give him a little boost in the polls.

Because he wants the evangelical vote. Now that candidate is this guy, Donald. And so Jerry agrees to this deal and months later in 2016, he publicly endorses Donald for president. Please welcome back to Liberty University, Mr. Donald Trump. And so this election happens. And Donald doesn't get more votes than his opponent, but because of the way the electoral system is set up in the United States, he does win enough states and he eventually goes on to become president. And 81% of evangelicals who voted in that 2016 election voted for Donald.

So Jerry's endorsement very likely helped that. Now, here's where it all. gets crazy. Remember that hostel that pool boy is running in Miami? Well that hostel is actually LGBTQ friendly and one day a reporter gets an anonymous tip to look into it. So this reporter starts investigating this hostel and they start wondering why would Jerry this Christian evangelical leader own a hostel in Miami that's LGBTQ friendly and also who is this pool boy they've been known to hang around and do business?

with. Yeah, who indeed. So then the next year, bam, BuzzFeed of all places, publishes a story about Jerry and it also names Poolboy. And the public reads this and they start to suspect that there's a sexual component to this relationship. And then, pow, the rumors start flying on the internet and there are lots of memes and some of them are just great. And from that point on, over the next two years, Bad article after bad article comes out about Jerry, suggesting that maybe he's not the pious Christian leader everyone thinks he is. And that maybe he's leading a double life, including this picture that leaked of a nightclub in Miami where you can see Jerry and Becky with an eye hanging out. But then, to make it worse, one day, kaboom! Jerry posts this photo on his Instagram. Now this photo is of him and his wife's assistant.

And they've both got their pants undone and it looks like he has alcohol in his hand. Now, he posted this photo himself and he says it's part of a trailer park boy's Halloween costume. But whatever, it's enough to make people go, bro, what the fuck are you doing? Aren't you the head of the biggest Christian university in the United States? What are you doing with this woman with your pants undone? And is that pool boy story even true? Like, is your wife smashing with this pool boy while you watch? Mm, yeah.

And now at this point, the board at Liberty University, they are pissed, and they are tired of all this nonsense. And they put Jerry on indefinite leave. Then, shortly after that, Jerry has to come out to the media, and he admits that, yeah, something freaky had been going on with the pool boy. But he blames 100% of it on. his wife, Becky with an eye. According to him, he says that not that he was hanging out in the corner watching his wife smash with another man, but that his wife was cheating on him with the

pool boy behind his back. Sure, Jerry. Anyway, regardless, eventually Jerry gives up and he resigns as president of Liberty University. And all the while, continuing to publicly blame it all on his wife. And they're still together, by the way, to this day. And here's what they look like in real life.