Disgraced Pastor Sues Mancow Over Defamation Claims

CHICAGO — The disgraced former pastor of a suburban megachurch sued a radio host last week, alleging he broadcast defamatory stories on his syndicated morning show and podcast.

James MacDonald, fired earlier this year as senior pastor of Rolling Meadows-based Harvest Bible Chapel, filed the defamation suit Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court against longtime shock-jock Erich "Mancow" Muller, who currently hosts a daily program on WLS-AM in Chicago.

The eight-count complaint names as defendants Muller, five unidentified producers and Cumulus Media, the station's parent company. It includes four counts of defamation, four counts of false light invasion of privacy, four counts of intentional infliction of emotional distress, two counts of eavesdropping and one count each of negligent hiring, reckless hiring, negligent supervision and reckless supervision.

A congregant at the 12,000-member Harvest Bible Chapel since 2014 and friend of MacDonald since 2016, Muller began publicly criticizing the pastor on his show in January as former church members detailed allegations of financial and personal misconduct by MacDonald. That month, Muller published an editorial in the Daily Herald calling for the pastor and the church elders to be fired and replaced.

"[MacDonald's] advice put me 'on the sunny side' and kept me on the right path more than once, Muller wrote. "But he also created THIS: a culture of authoritarianism, secrecy, intimidation, outlandish fundraising expectations, poor financial controls and debt."

MacDonald was fired from the church in February, and the entire board of elders was replaced.

The message that the lawsuit claims shows Muller's malice — "that MacDonald lacked integrity as a pastor" — was later substantiated by the results of Harvest's own internal investigation, which led the church to disqualify its former pastor from ever again holding a leadership role there.

Harvest leaders announced last month an investigation into his conduct revealed a "substantial pattern of sinful behavior." Its founding pastor was "biblically disqualified" from ever serving again as a pastor or elder in church he founded in 1988, according to a statement from the board. Harvest and MacDonald later entered into binding arbitration to resolve claims related to his termination and the ownership of broadcast ministry Walk in the Word.

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According to the defamation suit against Muller, the radio host launched a "campaign to disparage" the pastor "through a series of false and defamatory statements" in February. It claims Muller was motivated by a desire to promote his radio show — rather than out of a sense of betrayal and desire to prevent the pastor from being "able to fleece people in the future," as the broadcaster claimed.

"Muller began his show with negative speculation that MacDonald was involved in a racketeering scheme, suggested to listeners that MacDonald lacked the integrity to be a pastor, and smeared MacDonald's name generally, communicating to listeners his malice against MacDonald. He then falsely accused MacDonald of engaging in specific bad acts," the suit alleges.

Some of those specific bad acts relate to statements made by MacDonald himself in recorded phone conversations, which include the pastor suggesting the CEO of a Christian news magazine could be brought down by planting child pornography on his computer. Muller played audio of the conversation on his radio show and said people from the church told him MacDonald would attempt to place "child porn on my computer to get me to shut up."

The lawsuit claims Muller knew the statements were false when he made them and described Muller's description of MacDonald as a "con man" as malicious and defamatory. Also defamatory, according to the complaint, was Muller's Feb. 18, 2019, interview with a woman who described being groped by MacDonald while returning from a mission trip to California on the private plane MacDonald shared with Bill Hybels, the founder of Willow Creek Community Church who resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations.

The complaint was filed on MacDonald's behalf by Phil Zisook and Richard Goldwasser of Chicago-based Schoenberg Finkel Newman & Rosenberg. Zisook, who specializes in defamation cases, has previously unsuccessfully sued the University of Illinois at Chicago student newspaper, an ex-professional wrestler and two brothers who described abuse by a Catholic priest, according to court records and media reports.

But Zisook has found success suing Muller in the past. With Zisook as his attorney, former Chicago Bear Keith Van Horne sued Muller in 1994 in a case presented in last week's complaint to suggest Cumulus should have known the radio host had been sued for "defamatory speech in the course of his radio broadcast." According to media columnist Robert Feder, the suit was settled five years later for $1.6 million in what was considered one of the largest settlements in a defamation suit against a radio host at the time.

"For me this has always been about trying to help people and trying to expose a bad guy,” Muller told Feder in response to MacDonald's suit. "For years I had endorsed [McDonald] and his church. When I found out the truth, I felt it was my duty to tell my listeners."

The defamation suit, first reported by the Cook County Record, is the second filed by the pastor against his critics in the past 18 months.

In October 2018, MacDonald and Harvest sued reporter Julie Roy as well as the authors of a blog wrote about MacDonald and their wives. According to Roy, that suit was dropped after a judge denied the church's motion to keep documents secret.

Church officials later publicly apologized for the "sinful violation" of the suit and reimbursed the people it sued for their legal expenses, according to a statement posted and later removed from the church's website.

Related:
MacDonald 'Biblically Disqualified' From Ministry: Harvest Bible
Evangelical Group Suspends Accreditation for Harvest Bible Chapel
Harvest Bible Chapel Founder's Sons Resign Days After James MacDonald is Fired
Harvest Bible Chapel Fires Founder, Sr. Pastor James MacDonald