Earlier Tuesday we issued a news release regarding two anti-Catholic billboards, sponsored by the Eternal Gospel Church, and displayed by CBS Outdoor, that appear along I-65 in Jeffersonville, Indiana. We asked CBS Outdoor if we could pay for a billboard that read, "CBS Sponsors Anti-Catholicism," but were denied.
The Catholic League's news release read:
CBS Outdoor, a division of the CBS Corporation, recently posted anti-Catholic billboards paid for by the Eternal Gospel Church, a breakaway sect of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, along Interstate 65 in Jeffersonville, Indiana; the town is located on the Indiana-Kentucky border across the river from Louisville. Here is what they say:
SATURDAY the TRUE Lord's Day
Sunday will be enforced as
THE MARK OF THE BEAST!
Anti-Christ Revealed — Free Book 1-866-POPE-MMM
SATURDAY the True Lord's Day
Changed by Antichrist Dan. 7:25
Free Book 1-866-POPE-MMM
[Note: MMM is 666 on the telephone, a.k.a. "The Mark of the Beast." Click here for pictures.]
Catholic League president Bill Donohue explained his response today:
"Yesterday, Catholic League director of communications Kiera McCaffrey spoke to Jake Logsdon, a representative at CBS Outdoor's Louisville office, about placing a billboard along I-65 in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He said he would take some pictures of the available billboards and send them to her to make a selection. The cost was $4,000 for one month, or $6,000 for two months. He said a graphic designer would work the ad up for us. Kiera said we wanted the billboard to say: ‘CBS Sponsors Anti-Catholicism.' He questioned why, and when told about the Eternal Gospel Church's ad, said he'd get back to us. Today we were denied. He said he talked to a higher up and was told that CBS cannot approve of anything that is defamatory of CBS.
"CBS has previously denied some PETA signs they found objectionable, and it won't allow us to tell the truth about CBS. But it has no problem promoting anti-Catholicism."
Catholic League president Bill Donohue explains what has happened since:
"Kevin Carnes, general manager of CBS Outdoor, Louisville, called to apologize for what happened and pledged that the billboards will be removed tomorrow. He also said that CBS Outdoor will not post such offensive signs again.
"CBS Outdoor made the right decision today to remove the bigoted statements attacking the pope and the Catholic Church as the Antichrist."
