‘God Forbid’: Giancarlo Granda Shares Kinky Details of Jerry Falwell Jr’s Sex Scandal in Hulu’s New Documentary

If you didn’t hear about the Jerry Falwell Jr. sex scandal in August 2020—there was, admittedly, a lot of other stuff going on at the time—Hulu has got you covered with God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty. This new juicy documentary, which began streaming on Hulu today, is essentially a tell-all for Giancarlo Granda, who made headlines in 2020 as the twenty-something “pool boy” at the center of a scandal that brought down the Falwell family. And though it tries a little too hard to make Granda look like a noble political hero—the man (allegedly) had a threesome in Miami, he’s not exactly Stacey Abrams—God Forbid does not skimp on gossip. Even better, it provides receipts to back the gossip up.

Preceeded by his infamous televangelist father, Jerry Falwell Jr. is the former president of the Christian college, Liberty University, and a prominent member of the far-right Evangelical community who played a significant role in electing former president Donald Trump. The gist of both this documentary—and Granda’s new memoir that he co-wrote with journalist Mark Ebner (also featured heavily in the film)—is that Granda not only had an affair with Jerry Falwell Jr.’s wife, Becki Falwell, but that Jerry was often present in the room while Granda and Becki had sex. Granda recalls the first time Becki invited him back to her room, while he was working as a pool attendant at a Miami hotel. Granda said the invitation for sex came with a condition: “One thing though: My husband wants to watch.”

After apparently consulting the merits of being a third with his sister (really!), Granda took Becki up on her offer. “I was a horny 20-year-old. There really is no other explanation other than that,” Granda tells the camera sheepishly. Granda doesn’t shy away from the kinky details. He describes how Jerry, at first, would masturbate in the corner while Granda and Becki had “anything but penetrative” sex on the bed. As they get to know each other better, Granda and Becki had penetrative sex. And Granda and Jerry, bonded over a love for business, became friends, too. Now when Granda and Becki had sex, Jerry would—according to Granda—leave his corner to “go in for round two,” when Granda was done.

But what Granda describes is more than just a sexual relationship. In fact, it sounds much closer to a throuple. Granda said he would spend the night in bed with Becki, while Jerry slept on a couch or cot off to the side. The three went on what sounds like dates together, including a romantic candlelit dinner in which Jerry ordered a “carnival menage a trois” for dessert. Granda says he began to treat Becki like his girlfriend, with the two of them exchanging “I love you’s.”

Money gets involved when Jerry Jr. helps Granda with some too-good-to-be-true business opportunities and introduces him to Granda’s business idol, Donald Trump. (This might be where some viewers lose sympathy for Granda. At one point, the former pool attendant expresses his shock that there were “actual consequences” to Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric and policies.) Eventually, a combination of blackmail, lawsuits, missed payouts, public humiliation, and hurt feelings lead Granda to take what he calls the “kamikaze” route. And the kamikaze route, as it turns out, is an investigative Reuters expose and a slick, compelling Hulu documentary. Granda’s smoking gun is a FaceTime video with Becki, who gives him a tour of the home while naked, recounting all the places she and Granda had sex. At one point during the tour, Jerry sticks his head in the room, unperturbed by the sight of his naked wife FaceTiming with Granda. Who doesn’t love a sex scandal?

Falwell Jr. resigned from his position as president at Liberty University shortly after the Reuters story was published. There’s a darker side, too, that is brushed over by director Billy Corben. After his resignation, students at Falwell’s school say they were raped, and that the school did nothing to prevent or punish their rapists. But this doesn’t fit into the slick, sexy narrative, and so the film quickly moves on.

The Falwells’ side of the story, which they relayed in an interview with Vanity Fair in January, is that Granda and Becki had an affair, and Jerry accidentally walked in on the two having sex one time, which he called “traumatizing.” At the time, Granda had no comment, promising answers in his Hulu documentary. You can’t argue that he delivered.