Trump pastor storms out of interview over faked biography – says he’s targeted because he’s black
A black pastor who is best known for tweeting a cartoon of Hillary in blackface is now blaming racism because the media found out that he lied about his biography.
A surrogate for GOP nominee Donald Trump stormed out of an interview with CNN this week after he was confronted with questions about falsifying parts of his personal biography.
Pastor Mark Burns, who drew criticism this week for sharing a cartoon on social media depicting Hillary Clinton in blackface, claimed on his church’s website to have graduated with a bachelor’s degree from North Greenville University.
His online bio also said he served six years in the Army Reserve.
Though Burns appears to have served in the South Carolina National Guard, the Army told CNN it had no record of him having served in its ranks. North Greenville University also said the pastor attended classes for only one semester.
Burns admitted eventually in the CNN interview, which aired Saturday morning, to falsifying parts of his personal story, but that’s not to say he didn’t put up a fight.
Burns at first fought the charges, and accused CNN anchor Victor Blackwell of playing dirty.
“This is not fair at all,” the pastor said at one point as he was asked about the holes in his supposed biography. “I thought we were doing a profile and all of a sudden you’re here to try to destroy my character.”
Blackwell said, “I’m not here to destroy your character. These are claims that were made on your website that was live while you were speaking at the Republican National Convention.”
Burns also told his interviewer he thought their conversation was off the record, which Blackwell told him was never the case.
The CNN anchor kept at it, asking about the claims made on the church’s website. Burns suggested at one point that maybe the website and his biography page had been, “manipulated or either hacked or added.”
Wix, the group that hosts the pastor’s church’s website, told CNN there is nothing to suggest the site had been hacked.
After suggesting online manipulation, Burns abruptly ended the CNN interview, removing his microphone and storming off the set.
The pastor released a statement hours after leaving the interview, admitting to falsifying his personal story.
“As a young man starting my church in Greenville, South Carolina, I overstated several details of my biography because I was worried I wouldn’t be taken seriously as a new pastor,” the statement read. “This was wrong. I wasn’t truthful then and I have to take full responsibility for my actions.
