Megachurch pastor Eddie Long filed his response to the lawsuits against him on Monday, the AP reported.
Since September 21, the time when the first two of the four lawsuits were filed against him, Long vowed to fight the allegations in court but stopped short from refuting them publicly. The megachurch pastor left it to this attorney to deny the allegations on his behalf.
In his legal response, the pastor said each of the “claims of sexual misconduct are not true.” He claimed in four separate documents that he encouraged his megachurch members to call him “daddy,” but the term was a sign of respect, the report said.
The four lawsuits accuse Eddie Long of using his power and influence to lure plaintiffs Anthony Flagg, 21, Maurice Robinson, 20, Jamal Parris, 23, and Spencer LeGrande, 22 into homosexual relationships with him. They said Long took them on trips abroad and other places and lavished them with gifts, including a car, cash and jewelry — all in exchange for sexual favors.
The lawsuits accused the megachurch bishop of having “a pattern and practice of singling out a select group of young male church members and using his authority as bishop over them to ultimately bring them to engage in sexual relationships.”
The pastor also claimed that he has long shared rooms with some members of his megachurch and that they often hug him. Long admitted giving gifts to the plaintiffs but he maintains he often extends financial assistance to many members of his congregation.
Bishop Eddie Long became a high-profile church leader when he transformed a small congregation in Atlanta into a megachurch with 25,000 followers. The New Birth Missionary Baptist Church counts among its members high-profile celebrities and politicians.
Bishop Eddie Long, who is married and a father of four, is known for his outspoken stance against gay acts. In 2007, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s magazine published an article about the bishop and called him “one of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement.”
Back in September, in his first public address since the scandal erupted, the megachurch anti-gay pastor told his congregation: “I have never in my life portrayed myself as a perfect man. But I am not the man that’s being portrayed on the television. That’s not me. That is not me.”
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I am so upset eddie long if this is true and i believe it has some truth to this because the confirmation of the book that was written by rueben armstrong that lots of people seemed to ignored. MY GOD MAY HE FOR GIVE YOU FOR YOU KNOW NOT WHAT U DID. YOUR CHILDREN, WIFE IS SHAME AND HURT BECAUSE OF U BELIEVING YOU COULD NEVER BE CAUGHT YOU WILL PAY THE PRICE FOR HARMING WHOM EVER YOU MOLESTED AND YOUR FAMILY…………AND MOST OF ALL SPENDING SO LAVISHLY AND MANY OF YOUR MEMEBERS ARE IN SERIOUS FINANCIAL NEEDS
Long admits he lavished gifts, cars, paid rent, & took spiritual sons on trips and shared a room with them & other church members, yet there was no sexual contact. Who does this sound like? Michael Jackson who admitted he shared his bed with young boys & had his penus rarity identified by one & paid off his accusers with millions. There is nothing normal about a preacher of his stature sharing a room with young boys. Wake up New Birth before your coffers are emptied to buy off these 4 young men.
The lawsuit answer is a confession; an admission of guilt. Drop your slave/master mentality & look at the real truth. Will these boys identify Long’s penus characteristics also? This man has rationalized in his mind that these boys performed sexual acts on him so it is not his fault. Get real. There is no innocence here, just a cover-up.
I just read Eddie Long’s answer and what the hell is the Bishop doing sharing hotel rooms with little boys. New Birth is a multi million dollar empire, they can’t afford more than one room? HE really needs to get slapped and then his wife slapped next, then we can forgive him.
It is amazing how we as Christians are the first to judge others. My Bible tells me;”Touch not my annointed. Do my Prophet no harm.” Bishop Long is like any other public figure when it comes to scandal. He is not immuned… Until recently most people above the Mason-Dixie line had never heard of Bishop Long. You really know nothing about his lifestyle and very little about his church. But yet you are in line to take your turn at beating him down. I can imagine Bishop saying to himself, “One minute they are applauding me and in the next breath they are yelling crucify me…” I have only two things to say: (1) Only God can judge Bishop Long. (2) Bishop Long is innocent until proven guilty.