'Evangelicals for Harris' apologizes after using Billy Graham in political ads

The evangelical Christian group Evangelicals for America formerly Evangelicals for Harris issued a masses apology on Tuesday for using footage of the late evangelist Rev Billy Graham in political advertisements backing former Vice President Kamala Harris during the presidential campaign In a report posted on social media the group acknowledged that it did not obtain permission from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association BGEA before using the clips In the lead up to the presidential ballot Evangelicals for America PAC's 'Evangelicals for Harris' campaign produced several ads using clips of Rev Billy Graham We did this believing that our use of the clips of Rev Graham although not done with the prior permission of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association BGEA would meet the criteria for Fair Use under the US Copyright Act the group wrote The BGEA objected to the ads claiming the group had infringed on its copyright by using video clips of Graham for political purposes without consent REV FRANKLIN GRAHAM CALLS OUT EVANGELICALS FOR HARRIS FOR TRYING TO MISLEAD PEOPLE USING HIS FATHER IN AD Our intent was not to infringe on BGEA's copyright or to give the impression that Rev Graham would have taken a side in publicly supporting one political candidate over another in an balloting so we apologize to BGEA Evangelicals for Harris announced The dispute started after the group circulated a series of attack ads against Trump that used footage of the late evangelist One ad juxtaposed Graham's preaching about confession with a interview in which Trump stated he wasn t sure whether he had ever questioned God for forgiveness Rev Franklin Graham son of Billy Graham and president of Samaritan s Purse and the BGEA publicly criticized the efforts at the time EVANGELICALS FOR HARRIS COURTS POLITICALLY HOMELESS CHRISTIANS TO BACK DEMOCRAT IN NOVEMBER The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris They even developed a political ad trying to use my father BillyGraham s image Graham wrote in a social media post in August They are trying to mislead people Maybe they don t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President realDonaldTrump in and if he were alive in the present day my father s views and opinions would not have changed In October the group publicly vowed to fight legal threats from the BGEA Months later they retreated from this position removing the ads and agreeing not to use any more clips of Graham or his organization without explicit permission Our hope is that these actions and our commitment not to use Rev Billy Graham within a partisan electoral context will clarify confusion over the message in our original ads affirm the value and importance of Christian dialogue about the way we engage in politics and prioritizes Christians remaining in communion despite differences their Tuesday declaration continued The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association notified Fox News Digital Their apology speaks for itself as does the original response from Franklin Graham We are grateful for the outcome Evangelicals for Harris reportedly spent more than million on ads targeting religious voters in swing states arguing that Harris' policies and character were a more accurate reflection of Christian values than Trump's