Billboard Comparing Donald Trump to Jesus Christ Removed

A billboard hailing former President Donald Trump as the second coming of Jesus Christ has been taken down.

The advertisement was spotted near the city of Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia earlier this week by Washington Post political reporter Eugene Scott who posted a picture of it to Twitter.

It featured a picture of Trump looking on alongside a misquoted passage from the Bible which read: "Unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders." The billboard incorrectly claimed that the quote came from Romans 8:17.

In actual fact it was paraphrased from another chapter and verse, Isaiah 9:6, which reads: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

The billboard drew widespread criticism on Twitter, with Scott's followers branding it at best "misleading" and at worst both "sacrilegious" and "blasphemous."

Since then Reagan Outdoor Advertising, the company that owns and operates the billboard space, has confirmed that the advertisement has been removed.

In an email to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Scott Hibberts, the general manager of Reagan Outdoor Advertising-Chattanooga, confirmed the display's message was removed on Monday.

Hibberts told the news outlet that the ad was originally placed for a client working with Impact Outdoor Media Group of Atlanta. He added that his company was unable to provide any further information on the client involved.

Newsweek has reached out to Impact Outdoor Media Group of Atlanta.

Hibberts gave no express reason for the adverts removal, saying that Reagan Outdoor Advertising "supports our advertiser's First Amendment rights and the use of our displays to promote legal products and services, as well as other messages that may be editorial in nature."

He did, however, add that the company provides firms and citizens "with a powerful medium to reach the public as long as those messages are not offensive to the moral standards of the community, do not provide misleading or false statements, and are legal."

Hibberts also stressed that "the views expressed on our displays belong to our advertisers."

Newsweek has reached out to Hibberts and several of his colleagues at Reagan Outdoor Advertising for further comment on the matter. The Archbishop of Atlanta, the Most Reverend Gregory John Hartmayer, has also been approached for comment on the billboard.

This isn't the first controversial billboard to appear in the U.S. bearing Trump's name and face.

In a tweet replying to Scott's original image of the advert, Andrew Bernal shared an image of a billboard he says appeared in Macomb County, Michigan, in October 2020.

The advert, which was paid for by Macomb County Southeast branch of the anti-abortion organization Right to Life, depicts Trump bent over a cot looking at a small child.

"Life Trump's Everything," the accompanying slogan reads.