Because they can
Sep. 23rd, 2004 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ergJimmy Swaggart Talks About Killing Gay Men
The .wmv
POSTED: 2:55 pm EDT September 22, 2004
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Christian evangelist Jimmy Swaggart apologized Wednesday for saying in a televised worship service that he would kill any gay man who looked at him romantically.
A complaint was filed with a Canadian broadcasting group and Swaggart said his Jimmy Swaggart Ministries has received complaints from gay groups over the remarks made on the Sept. 12 telecast.
In the broadcast, Swaggart was discussing his opposition to gay marriage when he said, "I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died."
"I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died."
- Jimmy Swaggart
The comment drew laughter and applause from the congregation.
Wednesday, Swaggart said he's jokingly used the expression "killing someone and telling God he died" thousands of times, about all sorts of people. He said the expression is figurative, and not meant to harm. Swaggart also dismissed contentions from gay advocacy groups that such language encourages violence against gay men and lesbians.
Audio recordings of the statements have circulated on gay-themed Web sites. One complaint also was sent to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, a self-regulating industry group that enforces broadcast standards, after a Toronto television station broadcast the service.
Swaggart was a popular television evangelist during the 1980s until a 1987 sex scandal involving a prostitute that he met in a seedy New Orleans motel. Swaggart never confessed to anything more than an unspecified sin. A few years later, he was stopped by police while driving in California with a suspected prostitute in his car.
(Toronto, Ontario) A Canadian television station has apologized publicly to viewers for a telecast of American evangelist Jimmy Swggart's television program in which he threatened to kill gays.
The program, aired last week on Omni 1, a Toronto multicultural station, and throughout the US, has also prompted an investigation by the Canadian Radio Television Commission, the government agency which regulates television.
During the program, a rambling sermon by Swaggart who is trying to rehabilitate himself after an arrest for soliciting a prostitute, the televangelist turned to the subject of gay marriage.
According to a transcript of the program, Swaggart said: "I'm trying to find the correct name for it ... this utter absolute, asinine, idiotic stupidity of men marrying men. ... I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died."
The remarks were met with applause from his congregation.
The program was taped at Swaggart's ministry in New Orleans where voters Saturday agreed to amend the Louisiana constitution to bar same-sex marriage.
The CRTC investigation was prompted by a complaint by a viewer in Ottawa. It is not known if any complaints had been made in the US where the show appears on stations in all 50 states. A spokesperson for the FCC which regulates television in the US did not return calls for comment Sunday.
Toronto station Omni 1 reviewed the tape after a complaint was made. A spokesperson called the remarks "a serious breach" of Canadian broadcast regulations.
Omni 1 is owned by Rogers Communications a conglomerate that controls the largest cable and cell phone companies in Canada and also owns television and radio stations and a publishing company.
Under Canadian law hate speech is a criminal offense. Broadcast lawyers say that both the station and Swaggart could be charged in addition to any penalty imposed by the CRTC.
The FCC has wide powers for imposing fines. Last month the Commission fined 20 CBS television stations more than $25,000 each over the Janet Jackson bare breast incident at the Super Bowl.
In 1987 Swaggart in a tearful sermon begged forgiveness from his followers after being found with a prostitute.
The .wmv
POSTED: 2:55 pm EDT September 22, 2004
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Christian evangelist Jimmy Swaggart apologized Wednesday for saying in a televised worship service that he would kill any gay man who looked at him romantically.
A complaint was filed with a Canadian broadcasting group and Swaggart said his Jimmy Swaggart Ministries has received complaints from gay groups over the remarks made on the Sept. 12 telecast.
In the broadcast, Swaggart was discussing his opposition to gay marriage when he said, "I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died."
"I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died."
- Jimmy Swaggart
The comment drew laughter and applause from the congregation.
Wednesday, Swaggart said he's jokingly used the expression "killing someone and telling God he died" thousands of times, about all sorts of people. He said the expression is figurative, and not meant to harm. Swaggart also dismissed contentions from gay advocacy groups that such language encourages violence against gay men and lesbians.
Audio recordings of the statements have circulated on gay-themed Web sites. One complaint also was sent to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, a self-regulating industry group that enforces broadcast standards, after a Toronto television station broadcast the service.
Swaggart was a popular television evangelist during the 1980s until a 1987 sex scandal involving a prostitute that he met in a seedy New Orleans motel. Swaggart never confessed to anything more than an unspecified sin. A few years later, he was stopped by police while driving in California with a suspected prostitute in his car.
(Toronto, Ontario) A Canadian television station has apologized publicly to viewers for a telecast of American evangelist Jimmy Swggart's television program in which he threatened to kill gays.
The program, aired last week on Omni 1, a Toronto multicultural station, and throughout the US, has also prompted an investigation by the Canadian Radio Television Commission, the government agency which regulates television.
During the program, a rambling sermon by Swaggart who is trying to rehabilitate himself after an arrest for soliciting a prostitute, the televangelist turned to the subject of gay marriage.
According to a transcript of the program, Swaggart said: "I'm trying to find the correct name for it ... this utter absolute, asinine, idiotic stupidity of men marrying men. ... I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died."
The remarks were met with applause from his congregation.
The program was taped at Swaggart's ministry in New Orleans where voters Saturday agreed to amend the Louisiana constitution to bar same-sex marriage.
The CRTC investigation was prompted by a complaint by a viewer in Ottawa. It is not known if any complaints had been made in the US where the show appears on stations in all 50 states. A spokesperson for the FCC which regulates television in the US did not return calls for comment Sunday.
Toronto station Omni 1 reviewed the tape after a complaint was made. A spokesperson called the remarks "a serious breach" of Canadian broadcast regulations.
Omni 1 is owned by Rogers Communications a conglomerate that controls the largest cable and cell phone companies in Canada and also owns television and radio stations and a publishing company.
Under Canadian law hate speech is a criminal offense. Broadcast lawyers say that both the station and Swaggart could be charged in addition to any penalty imposed by the CRTC.
The FCC has wide powers for imposing fines. Last month the Commission fined 20 CBS television stations more than $25,000 each over the Janet Jackson bare breast incident at the Super Bowl.
In 1987 Swaggart in a tearful sermon begged forgiveness from his followers after being found with a prostitute.
