June 8 (UPI) — Controversial right-wing evangelist and Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson has died at 93. Robertson built a business empire while politically organizing right-wing evangelicals.
CBN said in a statement, “Pat Robertson dedicated his life to preaching the Gospel, helping those in need, and educating the next generation.”
At 91, Robertson stepped down as host of The 700 Club in October of 2021. He started the Christian Broadcasting Network after buying a bankrupt TV station in Portsmouth, Va., in 1961.
Over the years, Robertson made many incendiary political statements on his TV platform, including calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2005, as he helped galvanize the Christian right-wing political movement. Robertson also once called for mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession.
He said he didn’t actually use the word assassination, but said Special Forces should “take out” Chavez.
Robertson supported former President Donald Trump and for decades mobilized the Christian right behind Republican candidates, including George W. Bush.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, Robertson and fellow TV evangelists Jerry Falwell appeared to put the blame on abortion doctors, feminists, gays and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Robertson backed Trump’s lie about the 2020 election being stolen, using his TV platform to praise a Texas lawsuit that unsuccessfully challenged the result.
In December 2022, though, Robertson said Trump was living in “an alternate reality” and needed to move on from his 2020 loss.
He said the Haitian earthquake in 2010 was divine retribution for a promise he claimed Haitians made to serve the Devil in return for help to win independence from France.
He said on The 700 Club that his prayers had averted hurricanes.
Robertson ran for president in 1988 and founded the Christian Coalition the next year.
Ralph Reed, a former executive director of the Christian Coalition, lauded Robertson’s right-wing political work.
“It is undeniable whatever one thinks of his politics — and I was fortunate and privileged to be at his side — that he transformed the Republican party and with it American politics,” Reed said.
Robertson, the son of a powerful U.S. Senator, built a business empire that included CBN and a Christian university. Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at more than $100 million, while other estimates were much higher.
He sold a holding company called The Family Channel to Fox Broadcasting in 1997 for $1.9 billion, reportedly netting $227 million.
