Reverend Oscar Bougardt has come under fire from the gay community yet again, this time accusing him of saying they are “to blame for the Coronavirus” pandemic.
LGBTGI publication Mambo Online outed the outspoken preacher in an article entitled “CT hate Pastor Oscar Bougardt says LGBTQ people to blame for Coronavirus” on Saturday.
But the reverend from Calvary Hope Ministries says he never targeted gays in a controversial Facebook post, but had made a general statement.
In the post, he wrote: “... Australia burns down, earthquakes, pestilence, tornadoes, plagues, and all sorts of bad things happening around this wicked world, and we think we can silence and stop God.
Our governments are wicked, disturbing Gods order by allowing and legalizing same sex marriages, and homosexuality than we think God are happy with us. Well while we at it, going into a 21 day lockdown see how many same sex couple will be able to procreate and how many heterosexual couples will come out expecting babies. A big zero to same sex couples, they cannot procreate even if the government put them in 21 day lockdown, they are disturbing the order of God.(sic)”
Editor of Mambaonline.com, Luiz De Barros says they stand by their article, in which they brand Bougardt a “hate pastor” and “bigot”.
“Mr Bougardt’s record and public statements speak for themselves. He is no victim, as he likes to paint himself, but a convicted perpetrator of dangerous homophobic hate speech. He has a responsibility to lead and espouse our constitutional values, not divide and sow hatred towards a vulnerable community.”
Now Bougardt - who was found guilty of hate speech by the Western Cape High Court in 2018, and was given a 30-day jail sentence, suspended for five years - is threatening legal action.
He said: “I will sue them for this, because of their article I’ve received a number of threats. They are misleading their audience.
“They have no news during the lockdown and now want to use me to create attention for their publication.”
Reverend Oscar Bougardt has come under fire from the gay community yet again. Video: Venecia Valentine
He further defended his views, saying: “I have freedom of speech and I will speak the gospel even if it jails me.
“They (Mambo online) claim I said the Coronavirus was brought into the world by homosexuals, but I didn’t say that, I spoke about disturbing the order of God, I spoke about homosexuals, abortions, false prophets claiming that this virus will be something of the past.
“This wasn’t an attack on homosexuals, this was my opinion and according to the constitution of the country, I have the right to my opinion and they need to prove where it is that I said it was homosexuals who brought the virus.”