Americans are heading to the Polls today for the Midterm Elections and extreme Republicans are already disputing the results without even casting a single vote. It seems therefore an appropriate occasion to sit down and watch “God Forbid’ a new documentary about how a sex scandal that sharply demonstrates how low US politics have really sunk these days. It makes for a very depressing viewing and is possibly setting us up for the reality of the results that may hit us really hard tomorrow.
We should say that the one (?) good thing about filmmaker Billy Corbin‘s “God Forbid: The Sex Scandal that Brought Down a Dynasty’‘ is that it is told by the ex-pool boy Giancarlo Grande. Even so, there is no escaping the fact that this is a nasty salacious tale of sex and lies which turn the whole hypocrisy of the situation into political intrigue.
20-something-year-old Grande was picked up at the poolside of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach by a woman twice his age. She made no pretense of the fact that she desperately wanted sex with him. It was however on one condition, that he allowed her husband to sit in and watch. Probably not such a shocking request in these sexually permissive days except for the fact the woman was Becki Falwell and her husband was Jerry Falwell Jnr the ultra-conservative President of Liberty University a private Evangelical school in Virginia.
Corbin spares us none of the explicit and somewhat sordid details when the arrangement developed into a regular affair, but he makes us feel like voyeurs, especially for the out-of-bed activity. When we see Falwell the savvy wealthy businessman starting to endorse and adopt Grande by buying a piece of expensive property in Miami, we feel that he is taking a risk that the whole arrangement may be exposed. However, he possesses the same arrogance as Trump thinking he is morally above society’s rules and laws even if he is found out.
Grande says on camera “They had this weird psychological hold over me, but when financial doors began to open for him, I thought, however weird this thing started, maybe it’ll turn into something good.’”
When it was exposed publicly Fallwell and the tabloid had a field day with the story, he was forced out of the Univesity in which he had laid down such stringent rules for every student and campus. It makes the double standard seem even worse.
Then if things couldn’t get any worse for the hypocritical Falwell, somehow Michael Cohen who was Trump’s lawyer whose job was to find dirt/scandal on famous people, got his hands on a photo of Becki and Grande in bed. Cohen destroyed the photos, but It was enough to ensure that Falwell was the very first Evangelical Leader to publically endorse Trump’s presidential campaign …..and very soon others followed.
There is a similarity between Trump and Falwell: they both deny corroborated facts and respond by just shouting as loud as possible over the heads of any challenges. It’s a nasty school ground bullying tactic that has got completely got out of hand. Morality and truth are for suckers like us, and sadly although Falwell may have been banished, Trump has not. He may not have his sticky hands on any pool boy but they are in a lot of places that should not legally be.
Grande is fine now so he doesn’t need us now , so lets just pray for the midterms.
PS God Forbid is streaming on HULU TVReview : Roger Walker-Dack
Editor in Chief : Queerguru
Member of G.A.L.E.C.A. (Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association) and NLGJA The Association of LGBT
Journalists. and The Online Film Critics Society. Ex Contributung Editor The Gay Uk &Contributor Edge Media
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