Robert Tilton at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in February 1992 (File photo)
Last night’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver provided quite the acid flashback for those of us who were around when Ivan Stang’s Church of the SubGenius and Ole Anthony’s Trinity Foundation made it their mission to run Robert Tilton out of town. Suddenly, without warning, Tilton was once again speaking in tongues on premium cable as part of Oliver’s look-see at televangelists, many of whom, if you haven’t been paying attention since the dawn of time, are in the pocket-lining business. Tilton, who was run out of town by Diane Sawyer after a dumpster-dive in 1991, just got there earlier than most. A true pioneer.
Longtime locals will remember this former landmark along Interstate 35E in Carrollton. (Irwin Thompson/Staff photographer)
But as Oliver says, despite being “caught up in an expose decades ago, he never really went away.” At one point Tilton moved to Miami, and says here he’s holding weekly services at the Courtyard by Marriott in Culver City, California. He’s also been pen-palling with Oliver for the past several months, which, spoiler alert, you will discover halfway through the 20-minute piece posted below. (Incidentally, the first half of the piece gets sidetracked by Brett Shipp’s February 2007 flight aboard Kenneth Copeland’s private jet.)
“Settle in, because this gets incredible,” says Oliver before his slow climb up Tilton’s pyramid scheme that includes colored oils “and a piece of fabric in the shape of some mountains.” Long story short: Tilton, says Oliver, is “a pen pal who’s in deep with a loan shark.” So rather than give Bob his own hard-earned, Oliver does him one better and, of course, starts his own church. Because the IRS tells him so — or, at least, tells him it’s so easy.
Needless to say, there’s some NSFW language here, because it’s not just TV, it’s HBO. And if you’ve never seen this, please, do yourself a favor. Bless you. … [visit site to read more]