(RNS) — An Evangelical Christian group that led a pro-Kamala Harris campaign in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election has removed a series of ads that contrasted the words of renowned evangelist the Rev. Billy Graham with those of President Donald Trump.
“Rev. Graham aimed to win a hearing for the Gospel with all people, whether they were Americans who identified as Democrats, Republicans, or something else, or simply people from another country who had no context for American politics,” the political action committee Evangelicals for America said in a statement released July 8 (Tuesday).
Led by evangelical minister and climate advocate the Rev. Jim Ball, the group said it had believed use of the clips for the $1 million ad campaign was acceptable under the Fair Use doctrine of the Copyright Act, which allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission. One of the ads, which compared segments of a 1988 Graham sermon with clips of Trump using violent language, claiming to be “the chosen one” and talking about kissing women without their consent, racked up over 30 million views.
In October, following a series of letters warning that the group was using its copyrighted work without permission, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based nonprofit that supports the ministries of Billy Graham’s son and grandson, threatened to sue Evangelicals for Harris (now Evangelicals for America) on the basis of copyright infringement. BGEA’s presiden …