Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, known for his massive ministry and a notorious scandal involving sex workers, has died.
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His death was announced Tuesday on his public Facebook page. No cause was given.
The preacher and televangelism trailblazer had been in critical condition at a Louisiana hospital following cardiac arrest on June 15, according to family members who shared the update during a prayer service last month.
Swaggart was 90.
The Louisiana native was a popular Pentecostal preacher with a large following until a 1988 scandal involving a sex worker in New Orleans, according to the Associated Press. His televised confession and tearful pleas for forgiveness became late-night fodder for weeks.
“I have sinned against you,” a crying Swaggart proclaimed in front of thousands of viewers at home. “I beg you to forgive me.”
He was also famously impersonated by Phil Hartman on SNL and Jim Carrey on In Living Color.
He resigned from the Assemblies of God later that year after the church decided to defrock him for refusing a two-year rehabilitation program, which included not preaching for a year, following a “moral failure.”
Swaggart acknowledged that his dismissal was unavoidable. However, he maintained that separating from the church was necessary to protect his ministry and Bible college.
This was one of several scandals that brought down TV preachers in the ’80s and ’90s. He continued preaching for many years, but to a smaller audience.
Jimmy Swaggart Beyond His Infamous Prostitution Scandal
Swaggart was born on March 15, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana, to Willie Leon and Minnie Belle Swaggart. He had one sister, Jeanette Ensminger, who passed away in 1999. Swaggart was raised in Ferriday, a small town in Concordia Parish, nestled along the Mississippi River on Louisiana’s central eastern border.
Swaggart was related to notable musicians. He counted rock-and-roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis and country music star Mickey Gilley among his cousins. He also achieved remarkable success as a musician, selling 17 million gospel albums.
Swaggart and Lewis even collaborated on the Gosbel album The Boys From Ferriday in 2022.
Swaggart, the author of over 100 books and commentaries, hosted evangelistic crusades across more than 40 countries, according to his family. His events drew tens of thousands of worshippers, filling stadiums around the world.
The preacher is survived by his wife of 70 years, Frances Swaggart, his son, cousins, and daughter-in-law, Debbie Swaggart. He is also survived by his grandchildren: Gabriel Swaggart (Jill), Jennifer Mullis (Cliff), and Matthew Swaggart (JoAnna), as well as nine great-grandchildren: Samantha, Ryder, Abby, Lola, Harper, Navy, Harrison, Caroline Frances, and Mackenzie, per USA Today.