A former gay employee of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition has filed a shocking complaint against Rev Jesse Jackson Sr, and the PUSH organization claiming that he was made to do sexually demoralizing acts and was fired based on his sexual orientation.
Tommy Bennett filed the lengthy complaint with the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations.
In the complaint, Bennett who was employed by the Rainbow Coalition from 2007 – 2009, alleges that he was discriminated against shortly after taking the position by workers who refused to work with him based on his sexual orientation.
The most scandalous charges center around Rev. Jackson, who Bennett claims made him complete “humiliating” tasks while working as Jackson’s travel assistant, such as escorting women to and from the minister’s hotel and cleaning up bodily fluids by “cleaning up his room after sexual intercourse.”
Bennett who moonlighted as “Aruba Tommy” on The Tom Joyner Morning Show goes on to claim he was once instructed to rub an ointment between Jackson’s legs because he “had a rash between his legs.”
Bennett says he refused and was degraded by Jackson and called a “little motherf*cker.”
The complaint also mentions an incident where Bennett claims he was summoned to Jackson’s hotel room at 1a.m. to take notes. The complaint reads, “When Mr. Bennett arrived, Rev. Jackson was dressed only in his briefs and a v-neck t-shirt.”
Bennett claims Jackson was sexually aroused.
Bennett finally claims the he was terminated in 2009 “due to lack of funding” but says many others were hired after he was let go.
Bennett is seeking back pay and loss of wages totaling $98,300 and $350,000 for emotional stress and punitive damage. He also seeks to have PUSH’s non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
Jackson recentlty denied the claims through PUSH spokeswoman Lauren Love in a written statement which reads,
“The Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., unequivocally deny Tommy Bennett’s false claims of harassment, retaliation and discrimination. We are fully cooperating with the Chicago Commission on Human Relations and expect to be fully exonerated.”
