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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOMG! Anybody remember Jim Bakker?
As I was flipping channels just now, I happened to spot his name on the bottom of the screen. I probably wouldn't have even noticed if not for the way the name is spelled. He has a white beard and a baseball cap. He's pitching some kind of nutritional supplements and vitamins now. And his wikipedia entry says he still owes the IRS $6 million.
yesphan
(1,587 posts)And his beautiful wife Tammy. What a pair.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)I'm sure she's gorgeous about now . Not even her makeup, fingernails and hair could hide that!
liberalhistorian
(20,814 posts)by then, and she'd been remarried for quite awhile before cancer took her. She had repudiated a lot of Bakker's "philosophy" and actions and had written and spoken out against him. I think once she was out from under his thumb she was able to think more clearly and blossom a bit.
yesphan
(1,587 posts)She wasn't quite as freaky after she left Jimbo.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)He probably shouldn't be. He's a hoodlum.
LuvNewcastle
(16,838 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)the woman has been dead since 2007, as you pointed out. What gives?
Erose999
(5,624 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)What a pair
KansDem
(28,498 posts)deutsey
(20,166 posts)My friends and I watched it all the time and would quote our favorite lines from Jim and Tammy like people used to do with Seinfeld.
MuseRider
(34,095 posts)They were endlessly entertaining. Too bad they were also ruining the lives of a lot of people. Did not think about it then but boy oh boy.....
NJCher
(35,625 posts)My brother and I used to light up the pipe, mute the TV, and laugh until the early hours of the morning. There was something all the more funny about it without the sound, not to mention in our altered state of consciousness.
Tammy used to get so worked up she would cry and then all that eye makeup would be dripping down her face.
Yeah, we, too, didn't think about the people getting hurt.
Didn't they start some kind of crazy Christian theme park?
Cher
LordGlenconner
(1,348 posts)Was my go-to television after school. It was basically her own talk show with some fund raising and religion mixed in. Gavin McLoud (Capt. Stubing from Love Boat) and his plastic surgery addicted wife were frequent guests. Unintentional comedy indeed.
Th1onein
(8,514 posts)KG
(28,751 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Gay men came to embrace Ms. Messner as a camp figure, making her the subject of gender-bending look-alike contests. She embraced them as well. She began attending gay pride events, and in 1996, she became the co-host of a syndicated television talk show with Jim J. Bullock, an openly gay actor.
I refuse to label people, Ms. Messner said in a 2000 documentary, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, when asked about her attitudes toward gay rights. Were all just people made out of the same old dirt, and God didnt make any junk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/us/22bakker.html?_r=0
Aerows
(39,961 posts)and your soul will be a pure as Tammy's.
You can't seriously be that gullible?
The woman is DEAD. As a doornail. Has been since 2007. I hope you aren't mocking gay people, because we don't allow that shit around here.
FreeState
(10,570 posts)Tammy was an amazing woman who embraced the gay community with open arms for the last 15-20 years of her life.
Her son runs a ministry out of New York and pushes for gay rights as well. They both are nothing like Jim.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)with these two, the 700 Club and the Christian Broadcasting Network when I was coming out and learning about myself.
Sorry for flying off the handle.
MuseRider
(34,095 posts)She turned out to be OK, really. A strong advocate for equality.
Things like that show and others did a lot of harm to young, gay people (others too but particularly young LGBT people). I know many people who feel like you do. Hard to get over that.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)to categorize people when you saw what they were associated with. I can forgive, it's just hard to forget, sometimes.
MuseRider
(34,095 posts)Forgive if you can but never forget.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)arely staircase
(12,482 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)I'm no more perfect than anyone else is, though, and it isn't easy to forgive and forget, even though you *really* want to do so. It takes time.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)gay people," that's me, BWAHAHAHAHA! I guess I'll have to take my "Adam Lambert" stickers off my car (yes, they are there!)!
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Peace.
Chaco Dundee
(334 posts)mammy fae had that right as well.of course some imaginary creatuure can not make junk.but to refer to any person as junk is beond my imagination.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)quinnox
(20,600 posts)I do know that Swaggert is still at it preaching, believe it or not. (He is the guy famous for confessing live on tv with tears streaming down his face - "Lord, I have sinned against you!"
Bragi
(7,650 posts)I'd suggest you view the documentary film "The Eyes of Tammy Faye".
She was a compassionate person who was among the first Xians to support gay rights and the fight against aids.
Don't believe me? Check it out.
It also is worth noting that the real bad guy in the Jimmy Bakker story was the creepy reptillian Jerry Falwell, who basically got Bakker arrested and stole all the money for himself.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Sorry, I don't need people to support my rights after they have a spouse sent to prison, since loving someone has nothing to do with extorting funds from people.
Bragi
(7,650 posts)A clue as to it's bias is that it's narrated by RuPaul.
and I live in the South, so it shouldn't shock and surprise you that I took it seriously.
FreeState
(10,570 posts)Tammy was an amazing woman.
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/the_eyes_of_tammy_faye
Aerows
(39,961 posts)I don't mean to have a hair-trigger, but these two were awful when I was coming out.
AndyA
(16,993 posts)She had zero issues with gay people, and spoke up to organized religion before anyone else did about their treatment of gay people. She truly loved all, and it didn't matter what their sexual orientation was, if they were sick with a disease, or anything else.
Never met Jim Bakker, but it seems like he really treated her badly. She forgave him, too, and still had love in her heart for him.
She was a very nice lady, and you felt better just being in the same room with her. Watch the documentary, it will give you a completely different understanding of Tammy Faye.
Bragi
(7,650 posts)Maybe the film will at least redeem her a bit for you. Her change is a good story to point out to hostile Xians.
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)Bragi
(7,650 posts)Jimmy was an evangelical fool. Falwell is truly evil.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)Now he, like Tammy Faye is dead.
Bragi
(7,650 posts)longship
(40,416 posts)deutsey
(20,166 posts)I would say big improvements, from what I saw. Before the scandals, though, they were as creepy and reptilian as Falwell, was.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)Bragi
(7,650 posts)On the evil scale, I'd say a huckster food-selling evangelical survivalist doesn't rank very high.
As comedy, though, he's gold.
ramblin_dave
(1,546 posts)The end of the world is coming.
And youre gonna need food. A lot of food.
Thats where Jim Bakker comes in.
lpbk2713
(42,744 posts)to the losers who backed him on that theme park that went down the toilet.
Bragi
(7,650 posts)It's fabulous.
NoPasaran
(17,291 posts)For a while when they were both in the slammer?
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)jmowreader
(50,533 posts)Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)I don't care if she was personally performing gay marriages later in life. She was part and parcel of a religious scam on millions, and i find it offensive a reptilian person like her is defended on DU.
Bragi
(7,650 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)were personally responsible for making gay men and women feel as though they were lower than dirt, and the fact that she changed her mind later in life is admirable, but I still harbor a bit of pain in my heart for the things they preached. It doesn't mean that I am unable to forgive, but a whole lot of inside of me wonders "Why?"
rucky
(35,211 posts)DU rules.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)brooklynite
(94,384 posts)backscatter712
(26,355 posts)And another with Pat Robertson and Jimmy Swaggart!
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/church-chat/n9682/
Looks like little Jimmy came out of his pulpit!
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)LWolf
(46,179 posts)GP6971
(31,114 posts)had to Google him......result was a flood of bad memories. How ridiculous
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)I guess the wrong one got all the good luck in the divorce.