Brody's Notes... Video From Bradlee Dean's Press Conference Announcing Suit Against MSNBC & Rachel Maddow

By Brody Levesque | MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA -- According to the Minneapolis' City Pages newsmagazine's staff writer Andy Mannix, Village Voice reporter Nick Pinto -- formerly a staff writer for City Pages -- was in attendance and shot video (below) at the press conference held Wednesday as Bradlee Dean Smith, an Annandale, Minnesota based conservative anti-gay religious leader and political ally of GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, announced that he was suing MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow along with the Minnesota Independent's writer Andy Birkey for what Smith claims is defamation against him personally and his ministry.

In a press release distributed during the conference, Smith and his attorney Larry Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch claimed:

Despite the very clear disclaimer by Bradlee Dean on his ministry’s website and elsewhere regarding the false accusation that he was calling for the execution of homosexuals, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and others seized on and accused Dean on her show of supporting the killing of homosexuals, as is the practice in some radical Islamic countries. This seriously has harmed Dean and the ministry, who pride themselves on respect and love for all people…
The lawsuit is filed by attorney Larry Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, in DC Superior Court and seeks in excess of $50 million in damages. However, money is not the issue. “This case is filed as a matter of principle,” stated Klayman. “We need more Bradlee Deans in the world and hateful left wing television commentators must be made to respect not only his mission but the law,” he added.

In a phone conversation earlier today, City Pages' Mannix told LGBTQ Nation that he had sat down with Smith for several hours at his Annandale headquarters in July discussing his ministry and the controversy surrounding it. Mannix told LGBTQNation that due to the length of the final article, the magazine ended up publishing it in two parts.

​In late May, pastor Bradley Dean Smith, the subject of this week's feature, launched himself into the public eye by delivering a controversial prayer on the floor of the Minnesota Legislature. Smith, better known as Bradlee Dean, was originally invited to deliver the morning prayer by Rep. Ernie Leidiger (R-Mayer). After Smith used the opportunity to accuse Barack Obama of being the first president to not believe in Jesus, Leidiger denounced Dean, telling reporters the invite was an "honest mistake." Though the Capitol prayer has received the most media scrutiny, it's not the first time Smith's ministry has been called controversial. Smith has also been criticized for performing at public schools assemblies on the tax payer dime (read more about that and Smith's path to God in part 1 of this interview).

Read Mannix's interview here: [ City Pages Article: Bradlee Dean Interview, Part 2: Taxes, Michele Bachmann, and the Capitol Prayer Debacle. ]
Video From Nick Pinto:

Bradlee Dean's Statement on Suing Rachel Maddow from Village Voice Media on Vimeo.