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Bradlee Dean’s press conference: the ‘left wing media’ has slandered me (Video)

Bradlee Dean’s press conference: the ‘left wing media’ has slandered me (Video)

From the Nick Pinto at the Village Voice comes this video of Bradlee Dean’s press conference on Wednesday, where he announced a $50 million lawsuit against the “left wing media” — MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, the Minnesota Independent and Independent reporter Andy Birkey — on what Dean claims is defamation against him personally and his ministry.

Watch:

In the lawsuit, Dean — an Annandale, Minn.-based Christian minister — alleges that Maddow defamed Dean when she broadcast a news segment which showcased Dean’s anti-gay rants and his ties to political candidates in his home state of Minnesota, most notably GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann.

In a press release distributed during the conference, Dean and his attorney Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch claimed:

Bradlee Dean

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…

The lawsuit … seeks in excess of $50 million in damages. However, money is not the issue. “This case is filed as a matter of principle,” stated Klayman. “We need more Bradlee Deans in the world and hateful left wing television commentators must be made to respect not only his mission but the law.”

The Maddow broadcast played an audio clip of Dean — pastor of the “You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International” ministry — in which he said that gay men molest an average of 117 children “before they get caught,” and that Muslim nations that execute gays are more moral than American Christians.

Andy Birkey at the Minnesota Independent also reported Dean’s statements here; Dean later claimed that Birkey “twisted” his words.

This is not the first time Dean and his ministry have been at the center of controversy.

On May 20, while protesters outside the Minnesota House chamber chanted against a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, Dean opened the House session with a prayer that incited outrage from House Democrats, and led to apology from the Republican Speaker after Dean implied that President Barack Obama was not a Christian.

For more reading on Bradlee Dean, Andy Mannix of Minneapolis’ City Pages sat down with Dean recently, and has an interesting profile and two-part interview:

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