Vimeo Pulls “Shoot And Burn Gays” Clip By Pastor Jeff Owens

On Saturday, YouTube yanked the now infamous clip in which Shenandoah Baptist Church Pastor Jeff Owens exhorted his flock to murder homosexuals. I was able to save the clip and upload it to Vimeo, who just sent me this message.

Dear Joe Jervis:

Your video ‘Shenandoah Baptist Church’s Pastor Jeff Owens: BURN AND SHOOT FAGS!(11950437)’ has been removed for violating the Upload Rules of Vimeo.com: Vimeo does not allow TV shows, movie trailers, or stuff you found on the web. If you believe this was an error, please reply to this email in a civil manner with your reasoning (“I see other people do it” is not a valid reason).

Regards,
Vimeo

The day after the clip went up on Vimeo, Owens published an apology to his church’s website, saying that the clip was recorded 15 years ago, when he was “young, stupid, and immature.” Stupid, surely, but not so young…Owens had been preaching for nearly 20 years by then.

In less than 48 hours that Vimeo clip was reposted on more than 100 sites, including the Huffington Post. I imagine that Owens forced Vimeo to take it down. But don’t worry, I’ll find private hosting for the clip shortly and ensure that it continues to live in infamy.

UPDATE: JMG reader Fritz has kindly offered to host the clip, which is below. (There doesn’t appear to be a preview image for this video player.) Feel free to copy the embed code for use on your own sites.