After months of hawking a product that he suggested can cure an array of diseases, including the coronavirus, televangelist Jim Bakker is walking back his claims, so much so that’s he saying that he never made them in the first place.
During a segment on The Jim Bakker Show this Tuesday, Bakker begged viewers to donate to his ministry, saying he’s no longer able to process credit card transactions due to the fallout over his claims.
“Some of the biggest companies have come against us,” Bakker said. “Right now, you cannot use a credit card … You can give by check. That’s the only way you can give right now.”
He then went on to say that he’s never claimed his “Silver Solution” product could cure infectious diseases.
“We were doing so well,” Bakker said. “For the last few weeks, [credit card processing companies] have been taking the money and putting it in their own accounts. We have not received money. They think because somebody told a lie about us, so now they’re saying, ‘Well, the people might want their money back, so we’ve got to keep all your money.’ Please stand with us. If people come against us, then it’s going to be impossible for us to stay on the air.”
Jim Bakker reports that his network is in desperate need of donations by check as credit card processing companies have cut off his ministry in the wake of his silver solution/coronavirus legal troubles. https://t.co/dEOCXi3RMC pic.twitter.com/ZC6kvEpxQn
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) April 14, 2020
But as Right Wing Watch points out, one doesn’t have to look far to see that Bakker did indeed market his product as a coronavirus cure. In a video clip from February, Bakker spoke to a guest about the “influenza that is now circling the globe.”
“You’re saying that Silver Solution would be effective,” he said to so-called “natural health expert” Sherrill Sellman.
“Well, let’s say it hasn’t been tested on this strain of the coronavirus, but it has been tested on other strains of the coronavirus and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours,” Sellman said. “Totally eliminate it. Kills it. Deactivates it.”
