Donnie McClurkin, a Grammy-winning gospel singer and pastor, sexually abused a young man over several years and wrote an apology email declaring himself a “dirty ‘old man,’” according to a new lawsuit.
Giuseppe Corletto says in the lawsuit that he was struggling to reconcile his sexuality with his faith when he sought out McClurkin in 2003. The lawsuit says Corletto, then 21, went to McClurkin’s church in Long Island, New York, after reading his autobiographical book, which described how God helped him overcome the “curse” of homosexuality.
At the church event, McClurkin “talked about being raped as a child, which resonated with me because that’s similar to my story,” Corletto said in an interview with NBC News.
He said he was brought to meet with McClurkin after the event, and the man took an immediate interest in him.
“At first it was all very innocent and what I thought [was] mentoring,” Corletto said in the interview.
But he now believes he was being groomed from the start.
McClurkin began to molest Corletto during “pray the gay away” spiritual sessions, the lawsuit says, and the abuse escalated over the next several years. During this period, Corletto worked as McClurkin’s assistant and regularly traveled with him, according to the lawsuit.
Corletto “struggled to process these incidents of sexual abuse, as [McClurkin] was both his mentor and employer, making it difficult for him to speak out about the abuse he had suffered,” the lawsuit says.
Donnie McClurkin performs at The First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Conn., in 2013.David Surowiecki / Getty Images file
An attorney for McClurkin, now 66, said the allegations 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, Greg Lisi, said in a statement. “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.”
After an alleged sexual assault at a Niagara Falls hotel in 2013, the lawsuit says, McClurkin wrote Corletto an email apologizing for his actions.
“I am the actual epitome of a desperate dirty ‘old man’,” he allegedly wrote in the message, according to the lawsuit, “pawning and groping a young man who is just looking for a friendship and close plutonic relationship with someone he wants looks to for help, guidance and spirituality.”
“I feel so foul…so stupid,” McClurkin added in the email, according to Corletto’s lawsuit, which was filed Friday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
The gospel singer-turned-pastor has won three Grammy awards and sold millions of albums. His path to stardom was paved in part by Oprah Winfrey, who in 1996 declared his self-titled album as one of her favorite things.
But his childhood was brutal. McClurkin wrote in his 2001 book, “Eternal Victim-Eternal Victor,” that an uncle sexually abused him when he was 8, which he believes caused his homosexuality.
“A seed had been planted,” McClurkin wrote. “A seed that would be my lot to struggle with for many years to come.”
He said in the book that reading Scripture helped him to overcome the struggle. “There are many more things that need to be done to break the curse of homosexuality; but that’s another book,” McClurkin wrote.
Corletto says when he read McClurkin’s book, he felt an immediate connection. They both grew up poor in New York. And he says that he, too, was sexually abused by a relative as a young boy.
Corletto said he went to McClurkin’s church and followed his guidance, hoping for the same outcome.
“I truly did believe he was fully delivered from homosexuality,” Corletto said in the interview. “I was doing whatever they were saying to rid myself of it.”
