Revolting Steven Anderson celebrates George Michael’s death

Steven Anderson, South Africa’s most reviled American pastor, has callously used George Michael’s death to promote his anti-gay hate.

Following the English pop star’s shock death on Christmas Day from a heart attack, the professional religious bigot took to Facebook to offer his appalling view on the news.

“George Michael, an open Sodomite, just died at age 53. That makes sense because being a Sodomite shaves about 20 years off your life expectancy, and the life expectancy in the USA for males is 76 years old,” wrote Anderson.

He then quoted Psalm 55:23 from the Bible: “But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.”

Anderson’s life span claims are based on deeply flawed 1994 “research” by Paul Cameron, founder of the American hate organisation Family Research Institute. The statistics have been widely discredited but continue to be cited as facts by anti-gay groups.

Meanwhile, in other news, Anderson has denied reports that he was banned by Malawi from coming into the country or blocked from opening a local branch of his church.

In a 21 December YouTube video, he claimed that he had in fact received a 12-month, multiple-entry visa — “and not only that, but our church has already been operating in Malawi”.

In October, Malawi government spokesperson Malison Ndau was quoted by the media as saying that Anderson was not welcome in Malawi because of his “hate preaching”. He explained that, “he would not be received well here”.

These statements came in the wake of South Africa denying Anderson and his followers entry into the country and Anderson’s deportation from Botswana after he called for the execution of gay people on radio.

Anderson’s Arizona-based Faithful Word Baptist Church is listed as a hate group in the US. He has preached that killing gay people would free the world from the AIDS epidemic and praised the Orlando massacre as “good news” because “there’s 50 less paedophiles in this world”.