Seattle pastor claims newspaper canceled church's Easter service ads last minute after CEO objected

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.

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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.

"Look, I’m a free market guy. And Seattle Times is a privately owned entity. And I support business owners being able to make decisions about how their businesses are run, but the reality is, is that their decision to cancel our multi-thousand dollar signed contract at the last minute is borderline very close to viewpoint discrimination," he explained in the interview.

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The church's payment was refunded, and Johnson was offered free digital ads and a discounted rate for a less prominent placement in the paper, which he politely declined. 

Johnson said he is considering legal action against The Seattle Times over the time and money spent crafting the ad, which had already been approved by the paper.

"I think at a bare minimum, The Seattle Times owes us for the amount of time, energy and effort that we put into creating an ad that had already been approved by virtue of a signed contract. So for us, I mean, I think all things being fair, the Times does owe us that. Whether or not they would ever be willing to admit that and pay up is probably a long shot," Johnson told Rantz.

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The Seattle Times did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

While disappointed, the pastor said he was not surprised by the paper's abrupt cancelation, citing hostility towards religion in the region.

According to a recent survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, Seattle is the least religious metropolitan area in the entire United States.

Seattle ranked as the least religious of America’s 15 largest metro areas, narrowly beating San Francisco’s 63% of those who rarely or never attend religious services.

Fox News' Alexander Hall contributed to this report.