Franklin Graham responds to Billy Crystal saying he no longer trusts God after tragedies
Evangelist Franklin Graham is urging actor and comedian Billy Crystal to trust God after the entertainer said he has stopped talking to God because of a series of personal tragedies.
In an X post Friday, Graham, the CEO of the charitable organization Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, responded to Crystal’s recent interview on “CBS Sunday Morning." Crystal, who is Jewish, revealed he no longer talks to God as he once did because too many painful events have occured in his life.
Graham wrote that Crystal said “he no longer trusts God after experiencing two very painful life tragedies”: the loss of his home of 46 years in a 2025 wildfire and the killing of his close friend Rob Reiner later that year.
“Everyone has bad things happen in life, and everyone experiences loss and disappointment,” Graham wrote. “But I trust God. He has done everything to keep me out of Hell, by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to save me — and to save Billy Crystal."
Graham, the son of the legendary evangelist Billy Graham, cited the Bible, saying that "we all have an appointment with death and then the judgment."
"[A]nd the decisions we make now will determine where we spend eternity," Graham added. "God is real, He is trustworthy and true. He loves us.”
Graham ended his post with advice for Crystal and “everyone else,” urging people to “trust God with your life.”
“Put your faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, who took your sins to the Cross, died, was buried, and on the third day, God raised Him to life," Graham wrote. “He will invite us to be with Him for eternity.”
During his appearance on “CBS Sunday Morning,” which aired Oct. 11, Crystal was asked whether he had been talking to God since the loss of his home and his belongings in the Palisades wildfire in January 2025 and the December 2025 murder of Reiner, who directed Crystal in the romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally."
Crystal responded: “No, because I don’t trust Him. Too many bad things have happened. The Earth is in bad shape. This is a weird, scary time. So no, not anymore.”
Crystal made faith the center of his 2004 one-man show, “700 Sundays.” The show focused on the 700 Sundays the comedian spent with his father before his father’s death and touched on his conversations with God.
More than two decades later, Crystal’s outlook shifted after his home was destroyed in the Palisades fire, which burned tens of thousands of acres in the Los Angeles area and caused dozens of casualties.
On Dec. 14 2025, Reiner and his wife were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood, California, home. Their son Nick was charged with murdering them. The tragedies are the subject of Crystal’s latest one-man show, “860,” which premiered on Broadway last week.
While the back-to-back tragedies left Crystal grief-stricken, the comedian told CBS he still looks for reasons to laugh.
“You have to, man. You got to, you got to. … It’s a healer,” he said. “It always has been that way. You know, we say when life gets tough, all you can do is laugh.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
