Controversial to some and comforting to others, Pat Robertson was a “man of God” who had a message, and shared it with the world. Through his long-running program The 700 Club, offering his ministry to the world was as easy as turning on your TV, which helped fuel the craze of televangelism throughout the 1980’s. Today, that legacy is remembered in a bittersweet light, as Robertson is dead at the age of 93.
Robertson’s passing was announced and confirmed by a statement reported by AP, who had gotten the news officially from the Christian Broadcasting Network. The organization that was responsible for broadcasting The 700 Club into homes for decades of operation was Pat Robertson’s base of operations, from which he delivered his gospel. At the time of the announcement, no cause of death was divulged.
Pat Robertson was not only open with his faith, but also his opinions on various hot button topics. In 2011, Robertson condemned an SNL sketch involving Tim Tebow and Jesus, labeling the bit as “part of a tide of anti-Christian bigotry that is just disgusting.” Not to mention, the Virginia-born Southern Baptist minister was also one of the Conservative voices who equated video game murder in Grand Theft Auto to actual crime.
In popular culture, the story of Pat Robertson’s reign at the Christian Broadcast Network, as well as The 700 Club, was recently brought to life through 2021’s biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Originally hosted by Jim Bakker, played by Andrew Garfield in the film, Robertson would eventually step in as the face of the show when the two parted ways after a falling out. The film saw Pat played by actor Gabriel Olds, and also saw Jessica Chastain crowned as one of the 2022 Academy Award winners for Best Actress in her role as Tammy Faye Bakker.
Strangely enough, Pat Robertson and his Christian Broadcast Network left another lasting legacy on landscape of pop culture; although it carries on in an entirely different form altogether these days. What started as The Family Channel under CBN eventually, through acquisitions and rebrandings, became what we now know as Freeform, in a relaunch that Variety pegs as taking place in 2015.
Though the network has morphed into a more modern platform, even topping GLAAD’s gay programming list in 2011 as ABC Family, it still showed its Christian roots, thanks to Robertson requiring each deal to retain a minimum amount of programming from CBN. And every night, that block of programming would be kicked off with none other than The 700 Club.
The same network that used to run Harry Potter marathons is still very much a platform for some of the strongest voices against such works. Such was the power of the Christian Broadcasting Network, and Pat Robertson. No matter his mission in life and faith, or his firebrand opinions, Robertson’s passing leaves a void in the family he led, and the business he built. We here at CinemaBlend would like to offer our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Pat Robertson, as they navigate this time of grief and remembrance.
