Jesse Lee Peterson

The Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson
Peterson at BOND in 2015
Born	(1949-05-22) May 22, 1949 Midway, Alabama, U.S.
Alma mater	Los Angeles City College (1 year)
Occupation(s)	Radio and TV host and political commentator
Political party	Republican
Website	jesseleepeterson.com

Jesse Lee Peterson (born May 22, 1949) is an American right-wing podcast and talk show host, and president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND) since 1990. Prior to entering political commentary, he was a small business owner after moving to California from his native Alabama in 1968.

Early life

Peterson was born on May 22, 1949, in Midway, Alabama, and raised in Comer Hill, Alabama, by his grandparents, who worked on the Comer family plantation where his great-grandparents had been enslaved a century earlier. His mother and father moved to Gary, Indiana, and East Chicago, Indiana, respectively, where they separately started new families of their own. He was born with a cleft palate that was not repaired until his teens. Peterson lived with his mother and stepfather in Gary as a teenager, briefly attending Edison High School. He then returned to Alabama and graduated from high school before moving to Los Angeles.

Peterson has stated he attended Los Angeles City College for one year. He says that he started his own janitorial service in 1989.

Peterson often says that he "unfortunately" made a son out-of-wedlock while in Alabama. He claims that he has been engaged twice, but never married.

Political involvement

In 1990, Peterson founded BOND (Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny), later registered as a religious non-profit.

Peterson has participated in activism against illegal immigration, abortion, and gun control, and for conservative "family" values. He has protested against the NAACP and feminist lawyer Gloria Allred. He has participated in discussions at the annual political convention Politicon.

From 1999 to 2004, Peterson held an annual "National Day of Repudiation of Jesse Jackson" event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, outside Jackson's offices in Los Angeles.

In a 2001 incident while meeting with Toyota executives in Los Angeles, Peterson accused Rev. Jesse Jackson of threatening him, and his son Jonathan Jackson of assaulting him. In 2006, a jury cleared Jesse Jackson of the threat allegation, but was split on his son's assault allegation. Conservative organization Judicial Watch provided attorneys for Peterson in the lawsuit.

In 2002, Peterson debated Michael Eric Dyson on "The Case For/Against Reparations for African Americans," hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists. Peterson was heavily mocked for his positions on black morality.

Conservative talk radio host Dennis Prager wrote the forewords to two of Peterson's books.

Peterson's radio show was simulcast on Newsmax TV in 2017-2018.

In June 2019, video-sharing platform YouTube demonetized Peterson's channel, amongst many others, under an updated hate speech policy.

Peterson appears in the 2020 political documentary Uncle Tom, produced by radio host Larry Elder.

Political views

Peterson condemns the Democratic Party, opposes Muslims serving in government, and says that racism does not exist. He has spoken out against Kwanzaa and Black History Month.

In 2005, he suggested that most African Americans stranded in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina were relying on the government to save them. In 2012, Peterson said about black unemployment, "One of the things that I would do is take all black people back to the South and put them on the plantation.... They need a good hard education on what it is to work."

He has described Nelson Mandela as an “evil man” and said that South Africa was better off under apartheid. He refers to President Trump as "the Great White Hope."

Peterson opposes sex outside marriage, telling former SlutWalk organizer Amber Rose that women who practice fornication are "sluts," and the men "slut makers."

Controversies

Peterson stated in a 2012 sermon that "one of the greatest mistakes America made was to allow women the opportunity to vote." He stated that women "can't handle power in the right way," that they "have no patience" and "don't have love." Political analyst Kirsten Powers confronted Peterson on Sean Hannity's program on Fox News, accusing him of using the pulpit to promote "misogyny."

In 2013, Peterson called black teen Trayvon Martin a "thug," who was killed in self-defense by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman. CNN host Piers Morgan called Peterson's comments "quite offensive."

In 2015, Peterson defended the presumptive innocence of former North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager, who shot Walter Scott in the back, killing him. Peterson criticized "angry black folks in this country" who disobey instructions of police. Upset, fellow panelist Leo Terrell abruptly walked out of the interview prematurely.

In 2018, Peterson compared the Black Lives Matter movement to the Ku Klux Klan, calling them an "agitative organization founded by... black lesbians and homosexuals...." In response, Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan accused Peterson of "homophobia," and Peterson's microphone was muted before he was kicked off the show.

In 2019, Peterson criticized Democrat Andrew Yang, an American citizen and son of Taiwanese immigrants, calling him a "communist" for his universal basic income proposal, calling him a "beta male" and stating that "he should go back to China or wherever he came from."

Peterson has said: “Do not marry a woman… who already has children. It's bad enough on kids when they don't have both parents, it's worse when a so-called step-parent steps in.... They want their natural father and natural mother, and especially their natural father." A liberal commentator argued that Peterson suggested that a child conceived by rape should be raised by the rapist.

Published works

• From Rage to Responsibility: Black Conservative Jesse Lee Peterson and America Today, with Dennis Prager and Brad Stetson. Paragon House, 2000, ISBN 1-55778-788-3
• SCAM: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America, WND Books, ISBN 0-7852-6331-4. Reprinted, Thomas Nelson, 2005, ISBN 978-1595550453
• The Seven Guaranteed Steps to Spiritual, Family and Financial Success, 2007.
• The ANTIDOTE: Healing America from the Poison of Hate, Blame and Victimhood, WND Books, ISBN 978-1-942475-00-2 (Hardcover), 2015.

External links

• Personal website
• Appearances on C-SPAN