The evangelical Christian group "Evangelicals for America" - formerly "Evangelicals for Harris" - issued a public apology on Tuesday for using footage of the late evangelist Rev. Billy Graham in political advertisements backing former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign.
In a statement 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 2024 presidential election, 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.
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"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 election, so we apologize to BGEA," Evangelicals for Harris said.
The controversy started after the group released a series of attack ads against Trump that used footage of the late evangelist.
One ad juxtaposed Graham's preaching about confession with a 2015 interview in which Trump said he wasn't sure whether he had ever asked 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.
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"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 2024. "They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don't know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President @realDonaldTrump in 2016, and if he were alive today, 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 statement continued.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association told 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 $1 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.
