SARAH SILVERMAN SHARES VIDEO OF PASTOR CALLING HER A 'WITCH' AND A 'GOD-HATING WHORE OF ZIONISM': 'HE'S GOING TO GET ME KILLED'

By Shane Croucher
Newsweek
August 9, 2019

https://www.newsweek.com/sarah-silverman-twitter-video-pastor-witch-whore-zionism-1453434

US comedian Sarah Silverman attends For Your Consideration Red Carpet Event for The Showtime Series "Who is America" on May 15, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by VALERIE MACON

The comedian Sarah Silverman shared a clip to Twitter of an extremist Christian pastor's anti-Semitic rant against her, and said she fears that he will "get me killed."

Adam Fannin, formerly of the literalist Stedfast Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, is the preacher in the disturbing video.

He is now part of the Law of Liberty Baptist Church, also in Jacksonville, following a recent scandal involving Stedfast that saw its leader admit to using sex workers.

It is not clear exactly when the clip dates from, though the background and pulpit look similar in style to Stedfast videos uploaded to YouTube in the second half of 2018.

"You know these Jewish false prophets, anti-Christian, anti-God, they're willing to put Jesus to death again," Fannin says in the video.

"You heard this comedian Sarah Silverman? You guys know who I'm talking about? She brags about 'I'd do it again.' Listen, she is a witch. She is a Jezebel. She is a God-hating whore of Zionism.

"I hope that God breaks her teeth out and she dies. She is a wicked person and she is like the perfect representation of religious Judaism.

"She is Satan's scoffer and she is there to take the world and make 'em laugh and then diss Jesus, try to take away the respect from Jesus."

Tweeting the clip, Silverman, who is Jewish but nonreligious, wrote: "This is Adam Fannin of the Stedfast Baptist Church in Florida and he is going to get me killed."

She later also posted a statement, which said: "It goes like this: Someone on the Right made a meme of a joke from Jesus Is Magic, a comedy special I did in character, and presented it as if I was saying it at a press conference.

"It's a picture of me with the quote, 'I'm glad the Jews killed Jesus. I'd do it again!' And THAT is what triggered the pastor.

"So, the person who made the meme knew it was comedy and intentionally repurposed it as real, knowing it would influence a swath of people who see it and share it everyday.

"And that's America today. Incitements of violence based on lies and the disingenuous re-framings of truth."

Lots of Twitter users urged Silverman to report Fannin's rant to the FBI and some said they had done so themselves.

A spokeswoman for the FBI's Jacksonville office told Newsweek: "The FBI cannot confirm nor deny the existence or status of an investigation."