Yesterday televangelist, adulterer and fraud Jim Bakker hit the ripe old age of 70. In the 1970's Bakker and his then wife, the late great Tammy Clownface Faye, began the PTL (Praise the Lord) ministry and started their own cable Tv show. They built a theme park in the early 80's know as Heritage USA in South Carolina. Complete with a 500 room luxury hotel, it was the third most successful theme park at the time, topped only by Disneyland and Walt Disney World (hard to compete with the hammer of God!).
It eventually all fell apart after a scandal involving an affair and numerous counts of fraud that lead to a 45 year sentence in prison. He was released after only 5 years for reasons I will spare here. He is now back on TV with The Jim Bakker Show, live and daily! See http://www.jimbakkershow.com for information!!
On a side note, years ago I watched a documentary called The Eyes of Tammy Faye. It was fascinating, effortlessly hilarious and borderline exploitative (but seemed unintentional) . It covers much of the Jim and Tammy Bakker story. If you ever have the opportunity and/or need some cheering up, by all means, watch it!
And here's a clip I found about televangelist scandals that features Jim Bakker's story.
*Honorable Mentions: Tia Carrere turned 42 and Cuba Gooding, Jr. turned 41.
1 comment:
You, ahem, nailed him!
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