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Donnie McClurkin, the Grammy-winning singer and pastor, has been sued in New York by a man who says McClurkin sexually abused him over the course of several years, beginning in the mid-2000s. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan under New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, comes from Giuseppe Corletto, who says he first sought out McClurkin as a young man after reading the pastor’s book about leaving what McClurkin described as the “curse” of homosexuality.
Corletto was 21 when he went to McClurkin’s Long Island church in 2003, hoping for spiritual guidance. What he believed began as mentorship, he now says, turned into grooming and abuse. The suit alleges that McClurkin molested him during so-called “pray the gay away” sessions and that the behavior escalated over the years, including during work trips when Corletto was employed as McClurkin’s assistant.
One of the central pieces of evidence cited in the lawsuit is an email McClurkin allegedly sent after a 2013 incident in Niagara Falls, in which he apologized and described himself as a “dirty old man” who had tried to force Corletto into something he had repeatedly refused. Corletto says finding that message years later made him feel, for the first time, that he wasn’t imagining what had happened.
McClurkin, now 66, has denied the allegations. His attorney, Greg Lisi, stated, “The claims set forth in the lawsuit grossly mischaracterize their interactions, which occurred over a decade, and some accusations over 2 decades, ago,” saying the lawsuit distorts their relationship and that the accusations are contradicted by the facts.
The case is being brought under a law that temporarily reopened the window for survivors to sue over older sexual abuse claims. Corletto’s lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, said McClurkin exploited someone who was “confused and had problems accepting his sexuality coupled with his religious beliefs,” and is seeking accountability, compensation, and closure for his client.
McClurkin is one of gospel’s most commercially successful figures, a three-time Grammy winner whose career was boosted in the 1990s by Oprah Winfrey after calling his self-titled album one of her favorite things. He has also been a controversial public voice for years over his views on sexuality. In his own writing, McClurkin has spoken about being abused as a child and about trying to overcome his homosexuality through faith.
Corletto says the years following the alleged abuse left him depressed and suicidal, but that his life is now more stable. He is married and says accepting his sexuality brought him peace, even if his relationship with organized religion remains strained. “I listen to praise and worship music still, and that’s what I consider church,” he said, “So, in many aspects, though I lost friends, community, my religion … I found myself, my family, my peace.”
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