Joel Osteen ripped for his Texas megachurch taking $4.4 million COVID relief loan
Multi-millionaire televangelist Joel Osteen is receiving stark criticism after his Texas megachurch received a $4.4 million small business loan.
Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston got the loan through the federal Paycheck Protection Program for COVID-19 relief, according to the Houston Chronicle. The program is designed to provide loans for small businesses to keep workers on the payroll.
Lakewood used the money on 368 employees, according to the Houston Business Journal, the New York Post reported.
“Believing the shutdown would only last a few weeks, Lakewood did not initially apply for PPP assistance during the first half of the program,” Lakewood spokesman David Iloff told the Houston Business Journal. “However, as the shutdown persisted month after month, given the economic uncertainty, Lakewood finally applied for the PPP loan and has been able to provide full salaries and benefits including health insurance coverage to all of its employees and their families.”
Osteen, who reportedly has a net worth of up to $100 million, was ripped on social media for accepting the loan.
Some pointed out how he initially did not open his church during Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
“Joel Osteen is the same scumbag who refused to let anyone into his fancy church during a disaster, so it’s not surprising the grifter took millions of PPP he wasn’t entitled to,” one Twitter user said. “It’s disgusting that he’ll continue to get away with it.”
“I’m not surprised that Joel Osteen lied about receiving $4.4 million in PPP federal funds,” activist and writer Charlotte Clymer tweeted. “This is the same guy who closed his church to the displaced in Houston after Hurricane Harvey and lied about flood damage. We had to publicly pressure him to open his doors.”
Osteen became a trending topic on Twitter Tuesday morning as thousands of people voiced their displeasure about the pastor.
He has not publicly commented about the $4.4 million loan. Lakewood Church is the nation’s largest megachurch with nearly 50,000 members, Houston History Magazine reported.
“Anyone shocked that Joel Osteen took full advantage of a program that was supposed to be to help save small businesses? Anyone?” one Twitter user remarked.
Lakewood Church was among more than 1,000 religious groups in Texas to receive money from the federal program, the Houston Chronicle reported.
“You’re talking about a significant number of churches that were assisted by the government,” William Vanderbloemen, the head of a Houston-based church consultancy group, told the Chronicle in July. “That’s just unprecedented.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 10:17 AM with the headline "Joel Osteen ripped for his Texas megachurch taking $4.4 million COVID relief loan."