Transcript for Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker address controversy after final PTL Club appearance: Part 6
The fall of ptl and the fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker was a huge story. Jim, how do I know you’re not conning me N espa??ol C You don’t. Religion and sex and money, it never goes away. She made christianity look fun. It’s one of the few gels or products that gets rid of or cures all venereal diseases. This is where we are now? The ptl network presents: “The ptl club!” We don’t know what the future holds, but I can assure you, Jim and Tammy some day will be helping people again. Jim tearfully said he had sinned and he was going to take some time away and he had asked Falwell to step in. Our world right now is cloudy and dark, but god’s promised to be with us in that shadowy time. Tammy Faye is going to sing a song for you. ??? The sun will shine again oh the sun will shine again ??? Bakker thought he would have a shot at perhaps coming back again, some sort of a comeback kid. It was not to happen. Well, what happened was, Jerry Falwell came in. If you want to send Jerry Falwell on national television down the water slide, fully dressed. You know, he seemed to go all in. He went down the slide in his suit. I’m ready! And that was, that was a big moment. Jerry Falwell thinks the central problem is Jessica Hahn. And he thinks that that’s really all there is to Bakker’s problems. We anticipate at this moment, with the information made available to us no financial crisis for this institution. We’re glad for that! What he doesn’t know is that ptl is deeply in debt, leveraged to the point of collapse. They’re something like $64 million in debt. They’re bleeding $2 million a month. Suddenly, we learned there were lots of financial issues and vendors that couldn’t be paid and it was just like this tornado of problems. The other thing that comes to light is that Bakker allegedly had a number of same-sex relationships. We have heard taped statements by individuals who ought to know who have stated that reverend Bakker has been involved in homosexual incidents. And to Jerry Falwell, this is shocking. The charge of homosexuality resonated in a different way 30 years ago than it does today. Back in 1987, if you accused a man of being, that was pretty much enough to pull the rug out from under him. Jim, I must tell you, I would be doing a disservice to god and to the church at large to allow you to come back here now or ever. What started out as a friendly takeover becomes a hostilkeover in short order. It’s already been called a civil war and a holy war. I call them godfathers of the gospel. They were looking for a way to bump each other off with lies and innuendo and scandal like the mob used to do with machine guns. He changed his stories several times as to whether Jerry came to him as the compassionate fellow minister and said, “Let me help you here.” And then later he said, “No, no. He stole it from me.” To say that Jerry Falwell and this board stole ptl on March 17th is like accusing someone of stealing the titanic just after it hit the iceberg. Once it’s clear that Jerry Falwell is not gonna step aside and turn the ministry back over to Jim and Tammy — Jim needs to deal with reality, confess his sin, get right and get his life back in line. They go on the offensive. And they do what they do best, they go on television. One of my officers called me and said, “Don, they’re rolling some TV stuff in here.” I said, “Who is it? One of the ladies that was out there told me it was “Nightline.” And I said, “We’re not gonna do ‘nightline.'” and they said, “Well, they think they are.” So I did everything I could do to try and stop that interview. Just relax, there’s no need to get uptight. Good evening, I’m Ted Koppel and this is “Nightline.” I didn’t feel like we were gonna compete with him very well. Are you getting a slight echo back of our voice? No, no, I’m not at all. I didn’t think that he was unkind, but I knew he wasn’t gonna be hoodwinked, and I saw that as a problem. You just — you can’t not do. The continuing saga of the ptl club has taken on the irresistible dimensions of a national soap opera. When it’s the biggest story of the day? It’s like saying, you know, would I want to sit down with Donald Trump today? You bet. I’ll come out of retirement to do an interview. I’ll come back from the grave to do the interview, you know. Jim and Tammy Bakker, why in heaven’s name did you agree to come on? Why are you willing to talk now? Well, we have been quiet for these many, many weeks, and it’s been devastating to us, what we’ve been going through. The only question was how he was going to defend himself. You don’t think that Jerry Falwell is a stupid man, do you, Mr. Bakker? No, not — no, not at all. He levels charges against you, homosexuality from 1956 to the present, effectively engaging in something approaching rape with Jessica Hahn. How else could they keep Jim and Tammy from being restored to their ministry unless they keep putting these charges on top of us? And as for the homosexual advances going back to 1956, you’re saying that’s a lie? Yes, that’s true, that’s a lie. That’s a lie. Yes. We’d go back to ptl and work for but you didn’t, and the fact of the matter is, not only did you not work nothing, you worked for a great deal. The board of directors with me out of the room always vote on our salary. Tammy and I had nothing to do with our salary. Money is so trivial, so irrelevant to them. Right? Jerry Falwell, at a press conference earlier that day had brought out this little note, handwritten note from Tammy Faye. From the desk of Tammy Bakker. There was just a shopping list in which she’s sort of laying out the “All right. You want us to go quietly? Here’s what we want.” Jim’s salary for lifetime at $300,000 per year. Tammy’s salary for lifetime $100,000 annually. House on the lake and furniture in it. Two cars. We want a maid for one year. I don’t see any concern for the welfare of this ministry in that kind of request. I see the greed that brought them down. And she didn’t deny it. Ted, what Jerry did, he asked us what he — we felt that, after all these years of the ministry, leaving the ministry, what we should have. And you know, when you’re negotiating — You start out at the top. Wow. Here they were, these poor babes in the word. Lambs who had been sheared. God loves you. But when it came right down to it, they were tough negotiators. God loves you, he really, really does. Bye bye. Alright, thank you both for being with us, goodnight. That’s our report for tonight. It’s a great moment because it helps you understand the culture that had developed at ptl where they were the royalty. They got what they wanted. Over the years, I did 6,000 “Nightlines.” That was number one. Not in my heart. But in terms of what had the greatest appeal to the greatest number of people. That was it. It’s alright honey, don’t
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