Pat Robertson Steps Down As Host Of ‘The 700 Club’

Ted Johnson
·2 min read
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Televangelist Pat Robertson said that he is stepping down as host of The 700 Club, ending his tenure as host of the long-running Christian Broadcasting Network program.

“Today’s show will be my final as host of The 700 Club,” Robertson said. “My replacement will be my very capable son, Gordon, who will take over as full-time host of the program.”

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Robertson will continue to make occasional appearances on the show and appear on a monthly interactive episode of the show to answer viewer emails.

Gordon Robertson said in a statement to CBN, ‘Good and faithful’ doesn’t even begin to describe my father’s service to CBN for 60 years. His legacy and the example of his prayer life will continue to lead The 700 Club in the years to come.”

Robertson, 91, founded CBN in 1960 and launched The 700 Club in 1966. The show became a platform for Robertson’s conservative political stances, including those that set off a furor among women’s groups and LGBTQ+ organizations. His notoriety from his TV network in the 1980s helped him wage a 1988 run for the Republican presidential nomination.

Robertson’s CBN became The Family Channel in the 1980s, running The 700 Club and a slate of TV reruns, and he later sold the cable channel to Fox, which renamed it Fox Family. But part of the agreement was that The 700 Club would still have a slot on the schedule, one that remains even as the network was sold to The Walt Disney Co. and later rebranded to Freeform. Freeform has even run disclaimers to distance itself from Robertson’s comments, including one in 2013 in which he claimed that gay men in San Francisco were attempting to infect people with AIDS via a ring when shaking hands with others. He’s also claimed that various natural disasters are God’s wrath for what he saw as immoral conduct. Freeform, however, is bound by a contract that reportedly runs in perpetuity.

 

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