Grammy-winning gospel singer and pastor Donnie McClurkin is categorically denying sexual abuse allegations filed in opposition to him by a former church member who claims years of grooming and assault throughout non secular counseling classes.
McClurkin’s legal professional, Greg Lisi, stated the accusations are fully false and grossly mischaracterize interactions that occurred over a decade in the past.
Giuseppe Corletto filed the lawsuit on Friday in Manhattan state Supreme Court docket underneath New York Metropolis’s Gender-Motivated Violence Safety Regulation, alleging McClurkin sexually abused him over a number of years beginning in 2003.
Corletto claims he sought out McClurkin after studying the pastor’s autobiographical e book Everlasting Sufferer-Everlasting Victor, which described overcoming what McClurkin referred to as the curse of homosexuality via religion.
The lawsuit alleges McClurkin started molesting Corletto in the course of the homosexual away non secular classes at Perfecting Religion Church in Lengthy Island, New York. Corletto labored as McClurkin’s assistant from 2004 and commonly traveled with the pastor, throughout which period the alleged abuse escalated to rape, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
Lisi firmly rejected all allegations in an announcement to NBC Information, saying McClurkin by no means engaged in any type of sexual abuse, assault, or sexual coercion in opposition to Corletto. The legal professional emphasised that the claims grossly mischaracterize their interactions and are contradicted by actual info from occasions that occurred over 20 years in the past.
Corletto’s lawsuit consists of an alleged apology e mail from McClurkin after a 2013 incident at a Niagara Falls lodge, the place the pastor allegedly referred to as himself a unclean previous man and apologized for forcing Corletto into one thing he persistently stated no to.
The e-mail allegedly said that McClurkin felt silly and silly about his conduct towards somebody looking for steering and non secular assist.
In keeping with McClurkin, he constructed his profession on overcoming childhood sexual abuse and homosexuality via religion, profitable three Grammy awards and promoting tens of millions of albums. His path to stardom included an endorsement from Oprah Winfrey, who declared his self-titled album one in all her favourite issues in 1996, and a efficiency on the 2004 Republican Nationwide Conference.
The allegations in opposition to McClurkin emerge amid a broader sample of sexual abuse scandals involving outstanding pastors and spiritual leaders.
T.D. Jakes confronted comparable allegations when Duane Youngblood accused the megachurch pastor of grooming and tried sexual assault in the course of the Nineteen Eighties on a YouTube present, although Jakes dismissed his defamation lawsuit in opposition to Youngblood in October 2025.
Youngblood’s brother, Richard, additionally made allegations in opposition to Jakes, who denied them in a sworn affidavit earlier than voluntarily withdrawing from the authorized motion. The dismissal adopted practically a yr of court docket filings and failed efforts to recuperate damages arising from the allegations.
Robert Morris of Gateway Church pleaded responsible to little one abuse prices in 2024 after a lady accused him of sexually abusing her as a 12-year-old woman within the Nineteen Eighties. Morris resigned from the Texas megachurch he based following the allegations and later admitted to indecent conduct with a toddler in an Oklahoma court docket.
McClurkin’s authorized staff is anticipated to file a proper response to the allegations within the Manhattan state Supreme Court docket throughout the coming weeks.
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