YouTube blocks Nigerian preacher TB Joshua’s account for “gay healing” claims

“I found out what happened to YouTube when I saw viewers complaining … I want you to help me pray for YouTube … Don’t look down on them; look at them as friends. We have to be strong.” TB Joshua said in a sermon posted on the ministry’s Facebook page over the weekend.

The YouTube channel of The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), led by Joshua, was shut down last week and can no longer be seen by its nearly two million subscribers.

OpenDemocracy, a UK-based media rights group, told CNN that it sent a message to YouTube on April 8 asking if conversion therapy videos did not violate its policies.

“We noticed at least seven videos. In one video, TB Joshua slapped a woman and her partner whom she called ‘second’ (couple) at least 16 times,” said Lydia Namubiru, Africa’s editor. OpenDemocracy.

“He said he was expelling‘ the woman’s spirit ’from her,” Namubiru said as he narrated the content of the images tagged on YouTube and Facebook by his organization. The woman later told Joshua that she no longer felt affection for her partner because of her intervention, Namubiru said.

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“In another, a young man … is slapped several times and his dreadlocks are shaved before declaring that he is no longer attracted to men,” Namubiru added.

YouTube has not issued a public statement to that effect. CNN tried to contact YouTube for comment, but was unsuccessful.

CNN saw an email sent to OpenDemocracy on April 13 by a YouTube spokesperson stating: “YouTube community guidelines prohibit hate speech and remove flagged videos and comments that violate these policies. In this case, we canceled the channel … We checked the videos that marked us and took the appropriate measures, which caused the channel to end. ”

‘Gospel of prosperity’

Emmanuel TV, the church’s broadcasting arm, is broadcast in Africa by DSTV, a satellite service owned by South African firm MultiChoice.

SCOAN welcomes dozens of international guests and local celebrities, who visit the place of worship to pray.

In 2011, Joshua was listed by Forbes as the third richest pastor in Nigeria, with an estimated net worth of between $ 10 million and $ 15 million.

In a statement posted to Facebook last week, TB Joshua Ministries said it would appeal YouTube’s decision to suspend its channel.

“Emmanuel TV’s mission is to share God’s love with everyone, regardless of race or religion, and we strongly oppose all forms of hate speech. We have had a long and fruitful relationship with YouTube and we believe that this decision was taken in a hurry … we are making every effort to appeal against this decision and see the canal restored, “the statement said.

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The megacity of Lagos also asked millions of its followers to protest on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube) against YouTube’s action.

In reaction to Joshua’s doctrinal methods, a spokesman for the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), an umbrella body for Christian groups in the country, told CNN that the association “does not interfere with the way churches are run. nor in the operation of their places of worship. “

The YouTube sanction is a big blow to Joshua, and ministers and humanitarian actions taking place in different parts of the world are shown on the popular video platform.

Joshua gained prominence in the late 1990s after the boom of the “gospel of prosperity,” a Pentecostal doctrine that depends on good health and the financial blessing of the depth of faith an individual can demonstrate.

However, it suffered national infamy in 2014, after a building at SCOAN’s facilities collapsed and killed more than 100 people, most of whom were foreigners from South Africa, state media reported. Chinese.

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‘Gospel of prosperity’

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