Seattle pastor claims newspaper canceled church's Easter service ad after CEO objected

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A Seattle pastor may be pursuing legal action after a leading newspaper abruptly canceled their contract agreement with the pastor to advertise his church's Easter services.

Pastor Russell Johnson of The Pursuit NW church told Seattle-based conservative talk show host Jason Rantz that he reached out to The Seattle Times on February 9 in order to pursue a prominent ad placement advertising his church for Passion Week.

In emails shared with Rantz, Pastor Johnson reportedly asked the newspaper if he could pay for the "largest and most prominent ad space" the paper offered. He made clear that the ad would feature religious graphics, such as a cross, crown of thorns and an empty tomb, as well as an invitation to attend the church's Easter service.

Three days later, a marketing specialist for The Seattle Times replied and offered a placement costing $18,500, along with guidelines for religious messaging. The ad's original messaging mentioning "Hell" and "revival" was altered after it was rejected by the paper, but a modified version of the ad was finally accepted and paid for on March 19, the emails reportedly showed.

However, Johnson said the contract was canceled the following day, just two days before the ad was to be published.

He claimed the marketing team told him that "the owner [Frank Blethen] personally stepped in today and canceled your ad." He was told the prominent religious ad would hurt the company's reputation.

"They said, ‘You know, it didn’t really fit with the ethic of the paper.’ However, the marketing team told me in all of their years of doing advertising for The Seattle Times, this has never once happened, where the owner and the CEO personally stepped in at the last minute to cancel a signed contract," Johnson told Rantz.

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