Conservative author, pundit and filmmaker behind the documentary “2016: Obama’s America” has resigned from his post as president of King’s College — an evangelical Christian university in New York City after reportedly being embroiled in an extramarital affair.
Christian publication WORLD reported that D’Souza had a young fiancee in addition to a wife of 20 years.
WORLD reports that D’Souza brought his 29-year-old mistress to a late September evangelical conference in South Carolina where the pair shared a hotel room, and that he introduced Denise Odie Joseph II as his fiancee. The publication reports that the pundit filed divorce from his wife, Dixie Brubaker — from whom he has been separated since 2010 — just days after the conference.
King’s College began investigating the report Tuesday, and D’Souza stepped down as president Thursday after leading the university for just over two years.
But in an op-ed for FoxNews.com, D’Souza claims that he is not having an affair and calls WORLD’s claims “pure libel” — and that the publication has ulterior motives for writing the expose.
D’Souza writes that he has been separated from his wife for two years — something not mentioned in the WORLD article. He also says that he and Joseph stayed in separate rooms during the conference. D’Souza also claims that he was not aware that an engagement while married would be considered uncouth among his evangelical circles:
I had no idea that it is considered wrong in Christian circles to be engaged prior to being divorced, even though in a state of separation and in divorce proceedings. Obviously I would not have introduced Denise as my fiancé at a Christian apologetics conference if I had thought or known I was doing something wrong. But as a result of all this, and to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, Denise and I have decided to suspend our engagement.”
D’Souza claims that WORLD editor Marvin Olasky was on the King’s College presidential search committee, and “vehemently opposed” D’Souza’s candidacy, and that the article was written for personal reasons. D’Souza also writes that the reporter who wrote the story, Warren Cole Smith, was once a consultant for King’s before D’Souza decided against renewing his contract with the university.
D’Souza alleges that, “[h]aving nursed his grievance for two years, now apparently Olasky is using World to continue his vendetta.”
D’Souza entered the spotlight this year with “2016: Obama’s America,” which grossed over $30 million so far and became the second-highest grossing political documentary second only to Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.”