Joel Osteen is praying for mercy over social-media outrage on his delay in opening his 16,000-seat megachurch in Lakewood, Texas, to hurricane victims.
“You know, I’m not really concerned about the Twitter critics,” the told ET’s Kevin Frazier. “We’re concerned with these people [victims now at the church] and how they move forward. And there were safety issues that people don’t understand.
“But I really believe that if people were in my shoes, they would have done the same thing. When the building is clear, when it’s safe, we can start taking people. That’s what we have done for 60 years. We love helping people and that’s what our message is all about.”
Videos appeared to show the church in good shape despite being closed.
But Osteen said the former home of the Houston Rockets had previously flooded in 2001.
“You know, it depends on what day that is,” he told ET. “I think another thing that people don’t understand — it could flood. That street could flood and in 14 hours it can be down. … So you can’t go by that. I have video of it flooded on either Saturday night or Sunday night, I can’t remember. But, you know, it can go down in 14, 15 hours.”
Many weren’t down with his explanations.