Bob CollinsBradlee Dean (whose real name is Bradlee Dean Smith), the controversial pastor who runs a “ministry” called “You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International,” is suing MSNBC talk host Rachel Maddow and a Twin Cities writer for defamation.
You may recall Dean/Smith from his May appearance at the Minnesota House of Representatives, when he gave a controversial prayer before a session in which a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage was to be debated.
Dean is suing Maddow because he says she disparaged his name and appearance in an August 2010 broadcast:
According to a statement posted on his website:
The $50 million suit, announced at a news conference in Manhattan, claims MSNBC and Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent, took his comments out of context In the course of his ministry, Dean once made a statement on radio criticizing his fellow Christians for not taking a stronger stand about the gay rights lobby promoting homosexuality in the schools. He made a strong reference to Muslims taking the issue more seriously in the context of Shariah law, but did not condone their practices. It was Bradlee’s intent to focus attention on the issue, not to advocate harm to anyone.
Despite the very clear disclaimer by Bradlee Dean on his ministry’s website and elsewhere regarding the false accusation that he was calling for the execution of homosexuals, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and others seized on and accused Dean on her show of supporting the killing of homosexuals, as is the practice in some radical Islamic countries. This seriously has harmed Dean and the ministry, who pride themselves on respect and love for all people.
In a May 2010 column, the Minnesota Independent‘s Birkey quoted Dean’s (Smith’s) statements on his radio show:
Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” Dean said on YCR’s May 15 radio show on AM 1280 the Patriot. “This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.”
“If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that,” Dean continued. “That is what you are seeing in America.”
“The bottom line is this… they [homosexuals] play the victim when they are, in fact, the predator,” Dean said, before going on to make a claim that has no basis in fact: “On average, they molest 117 people before they’re found out. How many kids have been destroyed, how many adults have been destroyed because of crimes against nature?”
Dean (Smith) has been no shrinking violet on the issue. He posted a YouTube video responding to Rachel Maddow’s August 2010 show, which is now the target of his suit.
The pastor says the targets of his lawsuit are using his comments to hurt the presidential aspirations of Michele Bachmann, the complaint said:
