Bishop Eddie L. Long is shrewdly profiting and benefiting off of the sordid sex scandal that rocked New Birth Missionary Baptist Church to its foundation, according to some media reports.
Long, who is settling out of court with four men who accused the pastor of sexually abusing them as teenagers, has set it up so that searches of the sexual scandal on Google automatically get sent to the church’s website.
As pointed out and reported by The Mo’Kelly Report, when you type in the phrase “Eddie Long” or Eddie Long News 2011” to inquire about updates on the sex abuse case, the first thing that comes up is www.eddielongnews.com, which has as a subtitle “the latest on the sex scandal.” But when you click on the website, you are automatically transferred to the New Birth website.
New Birth owns the “www.eddielongnews.com” site. And “evidently that contract hasn’t expired. Eddie Long and New Birth are USING the scandal to promote its website, businesses and the New Birth name,” The Mo’Kelly Report insinuates. “Since when did it become okay for a ‘ministry’ to promote its own sex scandal for monetary gain?”
Furthermore, when Google visitors click on “eddielongnews.com” there’s no mention of scandal, “only New Birth products and pleas for giving. False, deceptive and immoral advertising.”
The situation, at the very least, raises questions of propriety and ethics. Are Long and New Birth intentionally deceiving visitors to the site who are looking for information about the scandal and mediation talks?
–terry shropshire
