Peter Popoff - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

The 1992 Steve Martin dramedy film Leap of Faith was inspired by Popoff and his wife's fraudulent ministry. Jonas Nightengale, the film's main character, is a faith healer who claims to read people's minds, but in actuality receives intimate details about his victims via a small radio. He travels around the country with his manager Jane Larson and their entourage, holding 'miracle' revival meetings to bilk people out of their money. When their tour bus breaks down in an isolated town, Nightengale and Larson decide to hold a revival meeting while waiting for spare parts. The local sheriff, Will Braverman (loosely based on James Randi), is skeptical and tries to prevent his town and its people from being conned. The film went on to be adapted into a 2012 Broadway musical of the same name, and was subsequently nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical.

Fletch Lives, a 1989 comedy film starring Chevy Chase, features a televangelist named Jimmy Lee Farnsworth (portrayed by R. Lee Ermey) whose techniques are virtually identical to those used by Popoff. In the film, Chase dons a series of disguises and infiltrates Farnsworth's congregation because he believes Farnsworth murdered his late aunt's lawyer.

Popoff was also the inspiration for a character in the 2012 thriller film Red Lights, starring Robert De Niro. Sigourney Weaver plays a psychologist and longtime paranormal investigator named Margaret Matheson. She investigates a psychic named Palladino, played by Argentine film actor Leonardo Sbaraglia. Palladino, who is based on Popoff, uses information fed to him via a hidden earpiece to persuade the audience at his shows that he is receiving personal details psychically. Matheson exposes him by tuning into the radio frequency of his accomplice's transmitter, leading to him being arrested and imprisoned. In prison, he confides in his cellmate "Sergeant Crunch" played by Matthew Stewart. The film even includes Liz Popoff's infamous line, "Hello Petey, can you hear me? If you can't, you're in trouble", nearly verbatim.

Heavy metal band Death's 1990 album Spiritual Healing was written in response to Popoff being outed as a fraud on The Tonight Show. The album cover features a man with an uncanny resemblance to Popoff 'healing' a woman dying of cancer, while a group of his followers cheer wildly in the background. The lyrics of the title track are addressed directly to Popoff: "Using faith as an excuse to kill/A sick way of life is now revealed/All the prayers in the world can't help you now/A killer, a taker of life is what you are/Speak no more lies/It's your turn to die."

South Park mocks Popoff in the 2000 episode entitled "Probably". Recurring character Cartman begins preaching to the other children on the playground. Soon after, he claims to supernaturally receive messages from God about their ailments and starts holding revival meetings, where he "heals" them by smacking them on the forehead. One of his most miraculous healings occurs when he gets a wheelchair-bound boy to walk (though the boy falls over after a few steps). Cartman then tells everyone that God is requesting obedience money donations, and they all obey. Later, Cartman's friends find him backstage at his church, literally swimming in all the cash he received. He confesses to them that he only began preaching because he was desperate to become a millionaire.

The wrestling gimmick of Brother Love is heavily based on Popoff.