Donnie McClurkin is denying the allegations in a civil lawsuit filed by a man who says he was sexually abused for years by the Grammy-winning gospel singer and pastor.
The complaint, filed on Friday, Jan. 2 by Giuseppe Corletto in New York County Supreme Court alleges McClurkin engaged in repeated acts of sexual assault and rape.
According to the filing obtained by USA Today Corletto says he met McClurkin in August 2003, after joining his Perfecting Faith Church in Long Island, New York.
Corletto says he turned to the pastor for spiritual guidance while struggling with his sexuality. The lawsuit mentions McClurkin has previously made public statements saying he was “delivered from homosexuality.”
The lawsuit claims McClurkin “assured” Corletto that he would help deliver him “from homosexuality,” and held sessions to “pray the gay away.”
Corletto says he was soon hired as McClurkin’s soon personal assistant and regularly traveled with the pastor. According to the complaint, the first alleged assault took place in 2007, when McClurkin allegedly forced himself on Corletto and raped him in a hotel room in California.
The suit claims additional assaults followed in hotels and at McClurkin’s church, with the “unwanted sexual acts” continuing to 2015.
Corletto says he attempted to cut ties with McClurkin multiple times, but the gospel music legend told him they needed to stay in contact to achieve “deliverance.”
According to the complaint, Corletto became depressed and considered taking his life as a result of the alleged abuse. The lawsuit says Corletto has an email from McClurkin saying, “I have no one…and I feel it more than ever…but I was horribly wrong trying to force you into something that you were consistently saying no to.”
McClurkin’s attorney, Greg Lisi, rejected the allegations made in the lawsuit and said they are “categorically false.”
“At no time did Pastor McClurkin engage in any form of sexual abuse, assault, or sexual coercion of Mr. Corletto,” the attorney said. “The claims set forth in the lawsuit grossly mischaracterize their interactions, which occurred over a decade, and some accusations over 2 decades, ago. All these allegations are contradicted by the real facts.”
Corletto did an interview with NBC News and said when he first attended McClurkin’s church, the superstar pastor “talked about being raped as a child, which resonated with me because that’s similar to my story.”
McClurkin is best known for his songs “Stand” and “We Fall Down.” He is founder and senior pastor of Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport, New York, which has more than 3,000 members, according to its website.
In 2021, he appeared on TV One’s interview series Uncensored and said he felt hopeless about finding love after struggling in past relationships.
“I’ll probably be alone for the rest of my life,” McClurkin said.
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