During Sunday services, a controversial Brooklyn preacher was seen on camera grabbing a female attendee and pushing her off the platform.
When a member of the audience interrupted Bishop Lamar Whitehead, 44, during his sermon on Sunday morning at Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie, it was captured on the church’s Livestream.
When the lady appeared on television approaching the platform, Whitehead could be seen holding her by the neck and shoving her out of the shot. He then requested the woman to deliver the sermon in her place.
The flamboyant bishop, who was reportedly wearing a loud Dior suit, then continued with his sermon as if nothing had happened. However, he later posted a Facebook response in which he claimed the altercation occurred in retaliation for lawsuits he had filed against two YouTubers who had accused him of stealing from his congregation.
Their accusations came after a startling video that showed Whitehead being attacked by armed thieves who seized gear valued at $400,000 surfaced online.
Whitehead starts his lecture on Leah in the video from Sunday’s service, which was uploaded on YouTube soon after the event, before going into the accusations against him.
“All we hear is Apostle Chief, Apostle Bishop Whitehead is a swindler, Bishop Whitehead is a fraud,” one person said. He informs his audience, “All we hear is that Leaders of Tomorrow is going to fail.
The accusers, according to Whitehead, are “snapshotting and filming right now, they screen recording right now,” he continues.
He seems to be interrupted at that time because he unexpectedly interrupts his sermon to pay attention to someone in the audience.
He instructs his audience to “let them record,” “let them record,” before choosing to “stop” since a lady could be heard yelling at him.
The bishop enquires, “You want to come to preach?” “Come up here if you want to come to preach.” Yes, Lord, I’m going to make you famous.
After speaking in tongues and urging the assembly to worship Jesus, he concludes his prayer by requesting that they “now get her out of here, move her out of here.”
Let’s give Jesus a round of applause, y’all, Whitehead tells his audience, seeming to want to move on from the issue.
While they snap the images, he keeps repeating the message.
He encourages them by saying, “Take the photographs, take the pictures.”
As Whitehead draws closer to her, a lady wearing a brown and pink flowery top arrives from the left side of the frame. Then, as he pushed her out of the shot, he could be seen rising his hands toward her head.
He motions to the lady, “Go over here, go over here.” Grab her out, I say.
Later, he was overheard yelling at her from off-screen, “Press whatever charges you want, you’re not coming in my area.” I feel in danger.
A little while later, he returns to the altar and simply says, “Let’s go back to the word of God.”
The New York Police Department has been contacted by DailyMail.com for comment.
But according to TMZ, after the confrontation, the pastor and the unnamed lady were taken to a nearby station for interrogation.
According to reports, he has not been put on trial for the incident’s misconduct.
In a subsequent Facebook Live video, Whitehead could be seen trying to explain what had occurred while driving home in his Rolls Royce with his Dior suit next to him, implying that the lady was threatening his family.
We had some visitors in the chapel, and they were sent by two bloggers who are nobody, he said, adding, “I realize that everyone is developing a story, but it is what it is.
He said that “they were sent inside my church to disturb my congregation.”
Then, Whitehead said, “Lawsuits are pending, and when the response is retribution, this is what it is.”
Before asserting that the lady on the video was rushing towards his wife and child, he said, “They came in videoing, and it was a big set-up.”
The young lady was seized at that point, and he said, “I escorted her out.”
The bishop continued by asserting that he had further audio and video to back up his claims and declaring, “I am a gentleman, I am pro-woman.”
He denied “choking her,” saying that he merely did “what any male and any pastor would do” in such circumstances.
Regarding the bloggers who are accused of orchestrating the event, he said, “All they want is followers.” “People have to generate content when they are irrelevant,” the saying goes.
He said, “It’s an assault on who I am.” I am not someone who would intentionally attempt to injure somebody.
However, he issued a warning: “You’re not going to endanger or put any of my members in danger.”
“Nobody is going to touch my family,” she said. I’m going to stand up for my family.
Earlier this month, when they accused him of stealing from his flock, YouTubers DeMario Jives and Larry Reid were sued in New York in two separate cases for $40 million in damages.
According to Jives, the pastor has been wearing the same jewelry that was seized from the pulpit, and he reportedly informed his 80,000 followers: “This n—-a is out here narcotics selling.”
In one of the lawsuits, Reid was also accused of claiming that the bishop defrauds people out of their money and that Whitehead will soon be “shut up.”
The two men allegedly cost Whitehead “commercial transactions, church members, and revenue,” according to the latest claims.
One of them states: “Plaintiff lost business opportunities, church members, and revenue as a consequence of (the defendants’) behavior.”
“(Defendants) are liable to Plaintiff for defamation, libel per se, and slander per se,” the document continues.
His lawyer said that’many more’ such legal actions would be filed in the near future to ‘aggressively’ punish anybody who make ‘defamatory claims’ against Whitehead.
Jives is being sued on the grounds that he allegedly said on his YouTube channel that the bishop “is wearing the same jewels that (he) was stolen in.”
the pastor “scammed people out of money,” and that he “will be in up in approximately three months,” according to the other, according Reid.
They made this accusation after seeing a bizarre video that showed Whitehead being robbed on July 24 at his church while delivering a sermon to his audience while wearing a maroon suit, a heavy gold chain, and a sizable ring on each finger.
How many of you have lost faith because you saw someone else die? he was heard asking his congregation on film.
The thieves then approach, and he is then heard repeating, “All okay, all right,” before being seen getting on his knees.
Then, while they looted the bishop, his wife, and the crowd, the men could be seen circling the stage.
Later, he claimed on Instagram that the assailants pointed a rifle at his back while they removed the jewelry and bishop’s cross he was wearing from above and under his shirt.
I instructed everyone to get down, said Bishop Whitehead. I wasn’t sure whether they planned to rob the church or open fire on it.
They removed all of my jewelry as well as my wife’s jewelry.
The churchman also said that while pursuing the criminals, he saw them remove their masks and flee in a white Mercedes.
Around 11.15 am, according to the police, a robbery occurred in Canarsie when jewelry valued at $400,000 was taken.
Whitehead subsequently claimed that the assistance he gave the suspect in the murder of Andrew Abdullah may have made him a target.
The 25-year-old is accused of shooting a Goldman Sachs employee dead at point blank range when the two were riding the train earlier this year.
The preacher arrived to negotiate the thug’s surrender in his $350,000 Rolls-Royce and a Fendi jacket.
As he addressed the media outside the 5th Precinct, where Andrew Abdullah was taken for interrogation, Whitehead was dressed in a Fendi blazer. He is friends with New York City mayor Eric Adams.
According to a different Brooklyn complaint described by the NY Post, Whitehead was also charged with taking the life savings of one of his worshippers.
Pauline Anderson, 56, claimed that Whitehead had persuaded her to part with her $90,000 life savings with the understanding that he would subsequently purchase and refurbish a property for her.
In addition, the Bishop allegedly promised to provide the lady $100 per month since her only source of income had been her savings.
However, the monthly payment was only ever given once, and Whitehead finally stopped answering Anderson’s questions concerning the condition of her residence.
Later, he reportedly informed the lady that he was not required to give her money back since he had put it in his business.
The spiritual leader had already served five years in prison on charges of grand theft and identity fraud.
However, a jail term and a public heist haven’t prevented him from becoming close to NYC Mayor Eric Adams or from leading a lavish lifestyle in general.