A North Carolina pastor has come under fire over a sermon in which he suggested that women who wear shorts deserve to be raped – saying he’d acquit a suspect “because a man’s a man.”
Rev. Bobby Leonard was seen in the resurfaced video making the shocking remarks last summer at the Bible Baptist Tabernacle in Monroe, WBTV reported.
In the clip, which has recently gone viral, Leonard talks to the congregation about how many women wear shorts rather than dresses or pants.
“You find more women going to those places with shorts than you will women with pants and dresses put together,” he says.
“Try it, if you got time, try it. Have your boy go ahead and try it and watch for it, have your girl go out and watch for it,” Leonard continues.
“I used to say this, I haven’t said this in a long time, you ready, I say if you dress like that and you get raped, and I’m on the jury, he’s going to go free. You don’t like it, do you? I’m right though. I’m right because a man’s a man,” he adds.
The video has been viewed millions of times and sparked a backlash, with many people in social media calling his words “disgraceful,” “disgusting” and “dangerous.”
Christian investigative journalist Julie Roys shared the longtime pastor’s message to raise awareness.
“Yes, a man is a man — not an animal. And HE is responsible for controlling himself. This pastor needs to resign,” the founder of The Roys Report wrote on X.
“I mean, I just couldn’t believe that any pastor would actually think these things, let alone say them out loud in a sermon,” she said.
“There have been so many victims of messages like this. And they’ve seen the danger that it can have in the community. And so I wanted to put it out there to say, ‘hey, this is not you know, 50 years ago, this is now. Pastors are saying this now, and it needs to be confronted,” Roys added.
Ben Rudy, a former church member, protested in front of the building Wednesday, WSOC reported.
“It broke my heart that he would say something like that,” Rudy told the outlet.
Jason King, who formed the protest outside the church after the video went viral, said he believes strongly in integrity and accountability.
“We don’t let people stand around in Union County in the pulpits and say something like this. That is wrong,” King said in a livestream from the protest, WBTV reported.
”You can’t stand there and teach the word of god and claim that you believe it’s ok for people to go around raping people for what they wear,” he said.
On Thursday night, a message of apology appeared outside on the church sign.
“I am sorry for any hurt. I was wrong,” Leonard’s message reads.
“I think that sign is headed in a good direction,” King, who has taught Sunday school at various local churches, told WSOC.
“I think that’s the start of a good direction, but people want to hear it. They want to hear it out of his mouth,” he said.
Rudy said he doesn’t think Leonard should leave.
“I think the congregation, if they love him like they say they do, let him repent and let him go in the pulpit and apologize to the congregation and to the community,” he told the outlet.
But not everyone was so forgiving.
“Pull him out of the pulpit. This shouldn’t even be a discussion,’ one person said online.
“In no way is a sign on the street an apology from him. He needs to make a video, in front of the congregation,” another said.
Leonard’s bio on the church website states that he launched it 40 years ago.
He and his wife “take great pleasure in their four children, many grandchildren, and several great grandchildren. Their constant desire is to see ALL their family saved and serving Christ with all their heart,” it says.
The Post has reached out to the Bible Baptist Tabernacle for comment.