Jim Bakker's Wife Reveals Why He's Taking Break From Show

Televangelist had a stroke, but is 'okay,' Lori Bakker announced Friday
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 9, 2020 6:30 AM CDT

More bad news for Jim Bakker, just two months after he was sued for offering a supposed coronavirus cure. On Friday, the 80-year-old televangelist's wife, Lori Bakker, announced he'd had a stroke and would be on hiatus from his Christian program The Jim Bakker Show, CNN reports. "We are thankful that Jim is okay, and that he is now at home with our family," Lori Bakker, who co-hosts the show with him, wrote in a Facebook post, promising that he "will be back!" It's not clear when he had the stroke. Lori Bakker notes that her husband "has been working non-stop" of late, but that that workload, in addition to "the most vicious attack that he has ever experienced" from "evil forces," had "taken a huge toll on [his] health."

Per the Charlotte Observer, Bakker had stirred up recent controversy after a guest plugged "Silver Solution" to get rid of the virus that causes COVID-19, leading to a cease-and-desist letter from New York state's attorney general and a request from AT&T to multiple channels on its DirecTV platform to stop airing the Bakkers' show. Son Jay Bakker, who has become an outspoken progressive pastor advocating for LGBT rights and against Christian fundamentalism, said in his own Facebook post that his father's stroke had been a "minor" one. "I know some of you struggle with humanizing my father, but he is also a good grandpa and my dad," the younger Bakker wrote. "We have a complicated relationship like a lot of folks." He added, "Your thoughts are appreciated." (More Jim Bakker stories.)

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