A Baptist pastor from Jacksonville, Adam Fannin, is at the center of a viral tweet after his anti-Semitic sermon was tweeted by comedian Sarah Silverman.
In it, he wishes death on Silverman, a well-known comedian and actor.
According to the current pastor of his former church, Stedfast Baptist Church, Fannin was fired six months ago but it’s unclear why.
WJAX-TV tried to contact to Fannin, but the church he now runs, Law of Liberty Baptist Church, was closed Friday.
The video has now been viewed more than 3 million times.
Silverman tweeted the sermon Thursday, saying, “If I get murdered, start here.” In another tweet, she said, “he is going to get me killed.”
It’s unclear when the video was made, but in it, Fannin can be heard speaking negatively about Jewish people before wishing death upon Silverman.
“I pray that God would give her an untimely death and it would be evident that it’s at the hand of God,” said Fannin.
In his remarks, he references a comedy special from 2005 where Silverman jokes about killing Jesus. She has since called the jokes from that special "problematic."
She says the pastor was triggered by a meme where someone put a photo of her with a quote from the joke. Silverman said the meme was taken out of context and was disingenuous.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is aware of the video, but in an email a spokesperson told WJAX-TV that they "cannot confirm nor deny the existence or status of an investigation."
The current pastor of Stedfast Baptist Church, Jonathan Shelley, made a video of his own Friday in response to Silverman.
He speaks for more than six minutes and toward the end says this:
“Even though Adam Fannin, you know, the broken clock is right twice a day. I’m not going to sit here and excuse his railing, but he is right that Sarah Silverman is wicked, it is right that she’s blasphemous,” said Shelley.
WJAX-TV law & safety expert Dale Carson watched the video.
“Well, I mean, that is free speech, and it’s also freedom of religion,” said Carson.
Carson said that while Shelley's words are disturbing and xenophobic, they’re not illegal.
“He is not calling for the direct killing of this individual, he is simply hoping that his god will kill that person,” said Carson.
But Silverman believes that his words could incite violence.
“Certainly, they could, but there’s a balance between something that directly incites violence,” said Carson.
WJAX-TV reached out to Rabbi Jonathan Lubliner, of the Jacksonville Jewish Center, who sent this statement:
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