Popular Christian comedian John Crist shuts down tour amid sexual misconduct accusations
Christian comedian John Crist is publicly admitting to repeated inappropriate relationships and treatment towards women. The admission comes on the heels of a bombshell Charisma News report detailing several accusations of sexual misconduct from at least 5 women.
Christian comedian John Crist has returned to social media, eight months after he admitted to "destructive and sinful" behavior following multiple accusations of unwanted sexting, harassment, and manipulation.
In a video shared to Facebook on Wednesday titled, "A message from me," Crist, 36, began by expressing thanks for the "undeserved" support he received and said he was in a treatment facility for four months.
"I had assumed that I had lived in a community of people that would be the first to look down on me, and judge me and point fingers at me, and I felt nothing but the opposite through this whole process," he said.
Crist went on to say that he "made a lot of poor choices in my personal life."
"I made a lot of decisions that hurt myself, that hurt other people and embarrassed myself and had consequences, and I can look you in the eye and own that," he continued.
"I think at the beginning of this process, I wanted to hop on the Internet, justify, and rationalize and minimize and kind of explain and defend myself," he said. "And coming all the way through the healing and recovery process, I can look at you eight months later and say those choices were on me. Those decisions were mine, and no one else's and no one else is to be blamed … I point the fingers at no one else but myself."
Comedian John Crist has spoken out on social media for the first time in 8 months since he was accused of sexual misconduct allegations. (Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for KLOVE)
In the 4 1/2 minute video, Crist did not address specific allegations but said he takes full responsibility for past decisions. Crist acknowledged he had a "problem" and he needed to "get some help." He said that's what he's "been doing for the last eight months" and that's what he will "continue to do."
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With 2 million followers on Facebook and 1 million on Instagram, and millions of views on YouTube, Crist was known for his satirical Christian humor.
"All of my comedy videos were pointing out hypocrisy in a lot of ways," Crist said in the video. "... The biggest hypocrite in all of this was me that I was portraying a person on the Internet that I was not behaving like privately."
Crist said that he'd like to "be part of the solution."
"I’ve been doing that in my personal life, and I’d like to make that transition to continue to do that publicly," Crist said. "There’s been a million times in the last eight months that I’ve wanted to jump on the Internet and make a video or make a joke, or an Instagram Story, but I knew that if I didn’t take the time to fix the broken pieces of myself, then I wasn’t gonna be good for anybody.
"So thank you all for the love and support and care. It truly has meant the world … I can’t wait for the future, I’ll see you soon," he concluded.
Last November, Crist admitted to "destructive and sinful" behavior after multiple accusations of unwanted sexting, harassment and manipulation.
"Over the past number of years, various women have accused me of behavior that has been hurtful to them," Crist said in a lengthy statement to Charisma News at the time, following a bombshell report involving at least five accusers.
"While I am not guilty of everything I’ve been accused of, I confess to being guilty of this — I have treated relationships with women far too casually, in some cases even recklessly. My behavior has been destructive and sinful," Crist added. "I’ve sinned against God, against women and the people who I love the most. I have violated my own Christian beliefs, convictions and values, and have hurt many people in the process."
John Crist (Photo by Michael Schwartz/WireImage)
After months of gathering information from multiple accusers over the last seven years and keeping the names of the victims anonymous, the Christian publication released a detailed report with accounts of the "clean comedian" allegedly manipulating women and attempting to leverage his fame, "initiating sexual relationships with married women and women in committed relationships" and "offering show tickets in exchange for sexual favors."
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"I am sorry for the hurt and pain I have caused these women and will continue to seek their forgiveness," he said. "I have also hurt the name of Jesus and have sought His forgiveness."
At the time, Crist canceled his tour with his Netflix special, "I Ain't Prayin' for That" -- which was due on Thanksgiving in 2019, but Netflix put it "on hold" -- and a book, due out in March, was also reportedly canceled.
Fox News' Caleb Parke contributed to this report
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