Just when Kevin Samuels’ followers thought they found his successor, their hopes have been shattered.
Jesse Lee Peterson, a Los Angeles-based pastor, was a shining star in the growing “manosphere” movement.
The manosphere is a testosterone-fueled community of masculine, conservative men who value the nearly forgotten traditional male and female gender roles.
The men of the manosphere were crushed when their leader, Kevin Samuels, died of a cardiac arrest in his Atlanta apartment on May 5.
Samuels’ distraught followers turned to the Internet in search of another fearless leader.
They turned to Pastor Peterson, the president of the manosphere, and soon crowned him as Kevin’s replacement. Pastor Peterson shared some of the same traditional gender norms as Samuels and his followers.
Peterson believes women should stay in their place and that men should be the head of the household.
According to The Daily Beast, Peterson once claimed that a woman who orgasms during sex is “becoming a man”.
Peterson is also a vocal anti-gay activist. He once called gay people “Satan,” and said that “radical homosexuals are evil.”
So it came as a surprise when the pastor’s homosexual hookups came forward and accused him of being a gay groomer.
In June, Milo Yiannopoulos, who now interns for Marjorie Taylor Greene, released a nearly 30-minute investigation into Peterson called “Amazing Disgrace.”
In the video, a Church Militant reporter interviewed two men who alleged they had sexual contact with Peterson.
Church Militant also spoke with a man named Patrick Rooney (right), a past lover who knew the pastor for 30 years.
Rooney said that, soon after they met, Peterson asked him if he was gay. Rooney described Peterson doing “horseplay” to get closer to him. “He would grab me and we would wrestle around a little bit, and I would feel his private parts against me,” Rooney said.
“I’m very sorry to have Jesse’s situation damage the conservative movement,” said Rooney.
Peterson, who claims he is celibate, has avoided the scandal by not returning reporters’ phone calls or emails.
In June, a caller to his online show managed to get a question in about the controversy. “I’m just kind of confused. Why haven’t you addressed the issue of the gay documentary?” she asked.
“Uh, it’s not concerning to me,” Peterson told his audience before hanging up on her.
“What a wicked woman!” he declared.
Watch the video below.
