History Main / GreedyTelevangelist

-->''How much money do you make?''
-->''How much will you let me take?''
-->''I can send you tranquility,''
-->''Just send your welfare checks to me!''

-->Would He wear a pinky ring, would He drive a fancy car?
-->Would His wife wear furs and diamonds, would His dressing room have a star?
-->If He came back tomorrow, there's something I'd like to know
-->Could ya tell me, would Jesus wear a Rolex on His television show?
* ''Music/{{U2}}'': Referenced in a coda for a live version of "Bullet the Blue Sky" from "Music/RattleAndHum":

* “Vanna Fucci Is Alive and Well and Living in Hell” is a short story by Creator/DanSimmons about a televangelist's TV talk show where the titular character gets put on it after being sent to Hell centuries ago so he can explain what Hell's like to the public. There's a lot of awful punishments there, which make him quite upset, especially since he was a political dissident rather than a sinner but got sent to Hell after he died anyway. And whenever said character gets too upset, he [[FlippingTheBird gives God the finger]], which causes every thief in his vicinity to be spontaneously turned into a demon and attack him. The evangelist, the other guests on the show, and a chunk of the audience are all turned into demons and dragged down to hell.

* ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryHotel'': One of the Ten Commandments Killer's victims is a televangelist accused of "taking the Lord's name in vain" - more specifically, for using God as a means of both profiteering and [[HeteronormativeCrusader spreading hate]]. The Killer punishes this sin by disemboweling the "false prophet" and stuffing his mouth full of coins.
* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': Patricia Ludmuller, the BodyOfTheWeek in "[[Recap/BonesS4E7TheHeInTheShe The He in the She]]", is a post-op transgender woman who turns out to have previously been fire-and-brimstone televangelist Patrick Stephenson, whose family grew extremely wealthy from viewer contributions before her disappearance. Her former wife Cecelia and son Ryan continued the televangelist ministry, but then Ryan had a crisis of conscience mid-sermon--"This is a palace, and Our Lord was not born in a palace"--and left the ministry to become a rehab counselor. In the end, he takes over Ludmuller's new church in the inner city.

--> ''How much money do you make?''
--> ''How much will you let me take?''
--> ''I can send you tranquility,''
--> ''Just send your welfare checks to me!''

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' has Nef Anyo, a Corpus 'prophet of profit' whose mannerisms are drawn heavily from a mix of megachurch televangelism and infomercial shilling. His favorite confidence trick is promising "[[GoodFortuneFromGod blessings from the Void]]" if viewers give money to his temple. Most notably, you never meet Nef in person--he only ever communicates by remote broadcast, particularly in Fortuna where he exploits the downtrodden Solaris people.

* ''Series/DropTheDeadDonkey'': Earl Johnson, an American televangelist visits the newsroom hoping to get them to broadcast his rally, which they can't due because it wouldn't count as news. By the end of the episode, he's revealed to be a pervert who attempts to take advantage of the recently Born-Again Christian Sally, which is enough to snap her out of it and return to her usual vindictive self.

This trope is not exclusively used by the non-religious. In fact, religious creators will often go after televangelists of their own faith precisely for weaponizing sincerely-held beliefs for their own selfish desires. Additionally, while Western media will often have this character be an Evangelical Christian, on account of its popularity, the religious leader can posit any belief, even a fictional one, and still count for this trope.

[[caption-width-right:330:"The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." -- 1 Timothy 6:10]]

* ''Literature/GoodOmens'': The angel Aziraphale possesses various people at random while attempting to get to Tadfield and avert the apocalypse. One of the people is an evangelist on live TV telling his audience only the faithful will be saved and everyone else will burn and spends approximately forty-five minutes of each hour cajoling, begging, and threatening people to send money. Unfortunately for him, Aziraphale decides to set the record straight, explaining that Heaven honestly doesn't care what happens to anyone and scolds the man for thinking the idea of sneering down at all the people who supposedly won't be saved is justifiable. Slightly subverted in that the book also says that the televangelist is a True Believer (Aziraphale can only posess people who are genuinely open to it) and really does spend a lot of the money on what, in his mind, are good works.

* ''Literature/GoodOmens'': The angel Aziraphale possesses various people at random while attempting to get to Tadfield and avert the apocalypse. One of the people is an evangelist on live TV telling his audience only the faithful will be saved and everyone else will burn and spends approximately forty-five minutes of each hour cajoling, begging, and threatening people to send money. Unfortunately for him, Aziraphale decides to set the record straight, explaining that Heaven honestly doesn't care what happens to anyone and scolds the man for thinking the idea of sneering down at all the people who supposedly won't be saved is justifiable.

* ''Film/LicenceToKill'' has Professor Joe Butcher conduct a televised ministry that's really a front for laundering cocaine kingpin Franz Sanchez's funds. It's remarked in-universe that Joe's televangelism is profitable even without laundering drug money.

** One of the criticisms of religion that comes up in "Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk" from ''Music/BroadwayTheHardWay'' is how TV televangelists tend to manipulate people with religious beliefs into giving them money. The song explicitly mentions Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker as well as Pat Robertson.

** Such types are also attacked in "Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk" from ''Music/BroadwayTheHardWay'', which explicitly mentions Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker as well as Pat Robertson.
-->But keep that money rollin' in
-->'Cause Pat and naughty Jimbo
-->Can't get enough of it (Let's dance!)

* Music/FrankZappa: ''Music/YouAreWhatYouIs'' features an early example with "Heavenly Bank Account"; released in 1981, it considerably predates the televangelism scandals of the late '80s that popularized this trope. The song depicts a televangelist who gets himself in the good graces of both the American public and the American government for the sake of embezzling donations without scrutiny, becoming a multimillionaire by invoking "the Fear of God in the Common Man."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}'': The episode "TV or Not to Be" has Mother Mirabelle, a televangelist for the Home Miracle Network, which is openly aimed at a very important demographic; People with disposable income. She and her followers worship a painting of a pair of feet called The Blessed Mother of the Weeping Soles, which she claims causes miracles to happen. When the painting is seemingly stolen, Duckman and Cornfed go to offer their detective services to her in order to find it, but Duckman causes a scene and calls her a fraud on live television. The feed cuts and she threatens them with a group of goons, but upon finding out they're detectives, she takes $20 off them as an apology...and promptly gives them the $20 as the fee for their detective services, effectively hiring them for free. In the end, it turns out that she engineered the theft to boost viewership when it was returned, and only got Duckman and Cornfed involved so it looked like she was trying to find it.

In media, televangelists are often portrayed as [[OnlyInItForTheMoney Only Being In It For The Money]]. Using a large, devoted platform, they promise their followers spiritual rewards, often intangible until the afterlife, while using these funds to line their pockets and live luxuriously. As many religions denounce such frivolous lifestyles, this not only preys upon followers who often have far less income, but also rings [[{{Hypocrite}} quite hypocritical]]. People with strongly-held religious beliefs may be particularly susceptible to being taken advantage of like this through appeal to their ideals and authorities, which adds a layer of insidiousness. In some cases, the leaders may even be confirmed to not even ''[[StrawHypocrite believe]]'' what they preach at all, much less practice.

* ''Film/HonkForJesusSaveYourSoul'' is a mockumentary that focuses on fictional Pastor Lee Curtis Childs and his wife Trinitee as they try to rebuild their church congregation following Childs' sex scandal. While they nominally talk about loving the Lord and wanting to save souls, they are clearly very focused on material wealth, wanting to show the camera crew their walk in closet full of Prada suits in every color, their expensive shoes, cars, and the flashy showpieces built into their church. A recording of a past sermon showed Childs gloating about his private jet, pretty wife, and nice house, saying that it was proof of his favor with God. When it starts to become clear that their congregants don't plan to return, the Childs seem more upset about the loss of power, money, and prestige than about having harmed the local community's view of church and Christianity.

* ''Literature/GoodOmens'': The angel Aziraphale possesses various people at random while attempting to get to Tadfield and avert the apocalypse. One of the people is an evangelist on live TV telling his audience only the faithful will be saved and everyone else will burn and spends approximately forty-five minutes of each hour cajoling, begging, and threatening people to send money. Unfortunately for him, Aziraphale decides to set the record straight, explaining that Heaven honestly doesn?t care what happens to anyone and scolds the man for thinking the idea of sneering down at all the people who supposedly won't be saved is justifiable.

* ''Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand'' is a science-fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein from the early Sixties which contrasts two types of religions. One, the Fosterites, are a violent sect that uses lavish churches and beams their fundraising message via television into the homes of their followers. The other, the Church of All Planets, is led by a human male named Michael Smith who was born and raised on Mars by Martians. He bases his faith on the alien philosophy he was taught, and his simple creed "thou art God" doesn't sit at all well with the Fosterites.

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': Patricia Ludmuller, the BodyOfTheWeek in "[[Recap/BonesS4E7TheHeInTheShe The He in the She]]", is a post-op transgender woman who turns out to have previously been fire-and-brimstone televangelist Patrick Stephenson, whose family grew extremely wealthy from viewer contributions before her disappearance. Her former wife Cecelia and son Ryan continued the televangelist ministry, but then Ryan had a crisis of conscience mid-sermon--"This is a palace, and Our Lord was not born in a palace"--and left the ministry to become a rehab counselor. In the end he takes over Ludmuller's new church in the inner city.
* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'': One episode features a gospel singer who, while frugal, only insists her and her colleagues save money to later build an excessively lavish temple.
* Deconstructed in ''Series/FilthyRich'', which posits that it is possible for someone to be be a selfless televangelist, as Eugene and Margaret Monreaux tried to be when they founded their televangelist empire. The problem is that humble televangelists don't get very far without patronage, which means letting less altruistic people like the 18:20 group in, and it's very hard to be around greedy, opportunistic people for long periods of time without their tendencies rubbing off on you.
* ''Series/InLivingColor'' featured skits revolving around televangelism duo Ed Cash and Carl Pathos, who frequently and transparently fleece their followers, be it through blackmail, or straight-up gunpoint robbery. Carl Pathos specifically was based off real-life televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, and his many, ''many'' controversies and sexual escapades that occurred during his ministry.
--> '''Ed Cash:''' No, no; we tried to do it the Lord's way, now we gon' do it the good ol' 125th St & 7th Avenue way! ''(brandishes gun)'' Give up the money ''now''! Pay the Lord!
--> '''Carl Pathos:''' ''(pulls out gun)'' You wanted heaven, ''NOW REACH FOR IT!''
* ''Series/LastWeekTonight'' ran an episode in 2015 over televangelists and the ways they are exploiting people for monetary gain. At the end of the episode, John Oliver and his wife (played by Creator/RachelDratch) parodied this by using a lot of the same language used by the televangelists they covered to set up a fake religious entity ("Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption") and an associated televangelism website and donation line, adding that any donations would be redirected to Doctors Without Borders. When the church was eventually shut down a few weeks later, Oliver announced that tens of thousands of dollars had been donated and were indeed forwarded to Doctors Without Borders.
* ''Series/TheRighteousGemstones'' features on an uber-rich televangelist family who own a multimillion dollar chain of megachurches. Donations from these churches fund their lavish and debauched lifestyles and enable their awful behaviors. While the family members have varying degrees of devotion to the church and God, the trend for the Gemstones is prioritizing profit over true belief.

* Music/FrankZappa: ''Music/YouAreWhatYouIs'' features an early example with "Heavenly Bank Account"; released in 1981, it considerably predates the televangelism scandals of the late '80s that popularized this trope. The song depicts a televangelist who gets himself in the good graces of both the American public and the American government for the sake of embezzling donations without scrutiny, becoming a multimillionaire through invoking "the Fear of God in the Common Man."

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' has Nef Anyo, a Corpus 'prophet of profit' whose mannerisms are drawn heavily from a mix of megachurch televangelism and infomercial shilling. His favorite confidence trick is promising "[[GoodFortuneFromGod blessings from the Void]]" if viewers give money to his temple. Most notably, you never meet Nef in person--he only ever communicates by remote broadcast, particularly via in Fortuna where he exploits the downtrodden Solaris people.

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In media, televangelists are often portrayed as [[OnlyInItForTheMoney Only Being In It For The Money]]. Using a large, devoted platform, they promise their followers spiritual rewards, often intangible until the afterlife, while using these funds to line their pockets and live luxuriously. As many religions denounce such frivolous lifestyles, this not only preys upon followers who often have far less income, but also rings [[{{Hypocrite}} quite hypocritical]]. People with strongly-held religious beliefs may be particularly susceptible to being taken advantage of like this through appeal to their ideals and authorities, which adds a layer of insidiousness. In some cases, the leaders may even be confirmed to not even [[StrawHypocrite ''believe'']] what they preach at all, much less practice.

In media, televangelists are often portrayed as [[OnlyInItForTheMoney Only Being In It For The Money]]. Using a large, devoted platform, they promise their followers spiritual rewards, often intangible until the afterlife, while using these funds to line their pockets and live luxuriously. As many religions denounce such frivolous lifestyles, this not only preys upon followers who often have far less income, but also rings [[{{Hypocrite}} quite hypocritical]]. People with strongly-held religious beliefs may be particularly susceptible to being taken advantage of like this through appeal to their ideals and authorities, which adds a layer of insidiousness. In some cases, the leaders may even be confirmed to not even ''believe'' what they preach at all, much less practice.

* Music/FrankZappa: ''Music/YouAreWhatYouIs'' (1981) features an early example with "Heavenly Bank Account". The song depicts a televangelist who gets himself in the good graces of both the American public and the American government for the sake of embezzling donations without scrutiny, becoming a multimillionaire through invoking "the Fear of God in the Common Man."

Depictions of religious leaders span a broad spectrum in media, from enthusiastically positive, scathingly negative, and everywhere in between. However, while in-person congregation leaders are regularly shown as benevolent, the same cannot be said for televangelists.

SubTrope of VillainByDefault and CorruptChurch. Compare SinisterMinister, which often overlaps. Several {{Religion Rant Song}}s that don't rail against God or religion in general are about these kinds of televangelists.

* ''Film/TheEyesOfTammyFaye'': Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker hit it big with the Christian evangelism show ''ThePTLClub''. However, the show's finances come under fire especially because the Bakkers' lifestyle is extremely lavish. Jim is eventually accused of and arrested for fraud.

* ''Film/TheEyesOfTammyFaye'': Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker hit it big with the Christian evangelism show ''Series/ThePTLClub''. However, the show's finances come under fire especially because the Bakkers' lifestyle is extremely lavish. Jim is eventually accused of and arrested for fraud.

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