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June 9, 2023

Pat Robertson, Televangelist Who Made a Career by Spewing Racism, Homophobia and Misogyny, Dies
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Longtime televangelist Pat Robertson has died at the age of 93. In 1960,
Robertson created the Christian Broadcasting Network, and for decades
used its flagship program, "The 700 Club," as a platform for homophobia,
religious bigotry and racist hate speech. In 1988, Robertson ran for the
Republican Party's presidential nomination, taking second place in the
Iowa caucus. Robertson's strong performance cemented the Christian
Coalition he founded as a major force within the Republican Party. In
2001, Robertson blamed liberals, feminists and gay people for the 9/11
attacks. He once claimed AIDS was "God's way of weeding his garden."
Robertson also raised funds for Contra death squads in Nicaragua, and
publicly called for the assassination of world leaders including Libya's
Muammar Gaddafi and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. In the mid-1990s, during
the Rwandan genocide, Robertson appealed to his audience for money to
fly relief supplies to Rwandan refugees in Zaire - now the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. Instead of carrying humanitarian aid, planes
bought by Robertson's charity mostly transported equipment for a diamond
mining operation.


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