Troubling

Eddie Long ‘A Monster,’ Accuser Says

Georgia pastor accused of sexual coercion of young men.

“You are a not a man, you are a monster,” said one of the men accusing Georgia megachurch preacher Bishop Eddie Long of coercing him into sex. In a local TV news interview, Jamal Parris said he still “cannot get the sound of his voice out of my head, I cannot forget the smell of his cologne and I cannot forget the way that he made me cry many nights when I drove in his cars on the way home.” Parris, 23, once worked as Long’s personal assistant, and he and three other young men say that when they were teens, the televangelist talked them into having sex with him by claiming the acts were a healthy part of spiritual life. They say Long exploited them in hotel rooms across the country, as well as on trips to Kenya. Long, a well-known anti-gay crusader, denies all charges.