Former-Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart says he never dated Andrew Caldwell, who got his 15 minutes of fame with his breathless pulpit proclamation, “I’m not gay no more!”, and now a judge has agreed its time for Caldwell to pay up — to the tune of $3 million.
Stewart, who has long-contended that Caldwell is “delusional,” has fought off gay rumors ever since Caldwell blogged about a relationship with the former NFL star, who was married to Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams at the time.
Caldwell, who was a cast member on The Gospel Truth reality show, gave a detailed account of the alleged relationship, saying Stewart bought him cars, handbags and other expensive gifts.
Stewart sued Caldwell, Jarrius Keyn Moon and Catalyst Next LLC last year. Catalyst Next describes itself as “a leading trendsetter in the world’s of media”, “dedicated to providing fresh, original content to media outlets and consumers.”
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The suit claimed the made-up relationship was used to create interest in the reality show.
While Caldwell did eventually retract his story, Stewart claimed in court that, “the actions of these irresponsible people are harmful and damaging the brand that I and others like me have worked very hard for.”
Specifically, Stewart said the false story cost him close to a million dollars after he canceled numerous public appearances.
An additional $2 million was sought in general damages for emotional stress (aka fragile masculinity) and professional harm, along with a very specific $15,340 for a PR company to repair his gay-tarnished brand.
“I’m not on the down low,” Kordell said in a radio interview at the time. “I’m a 100 percent man. I don’t do no homophobic. I don’t do no none of that. There is nothing about no dude I see.”
Stewart was by default awarded $1.5 million in general damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages when none of the parties answered the suit.
Stewart’s attorney, Antavius Weems, managed to get in one good “won’t someone think of the children!?” remark, saying:
“Mr. Stewart has chosen a public life, and understands clearly that a large part of that comes with people targeting you for profit,” Weems said. “But he became concerned when his minor son became the target of these people.”
Vince
Haha. Catalyst next was the real Target of his lawsuit and they should have known better than to get involved in this. You would think they would’ve taken the hint when Gawker went down.
JoeyRamone
Stewart sounds so literate. He should be on his knees thanking god an uneducated idiot like him got so far in life.
ingyaom
Glad to hear this dude is “a 100 percent man”.
Vince
I say we all countersue him. By saying that isn’t he by definition defaming all gay men? How much are those damages worth?
It’s exactly like saying.. I’m not black. I don’t steal and I follow the law.
Donston
This guy is a mess. That was obvious even before anyone tried to “expose” him.
camboron76
I can understand suing to regain lost income, regardless of one’s financial standing. But let’s hope that he, or others like him, after settling the lawsuit, use their reclaimed income as an opportunity to donate or support the LGBT+ community.
tham
“I’m a 100 percent man. I don’t do no homophobic. I don’t do no none of that. There is nothing about no dude I see.”
No snark, this really sounds like he’s suffering from CTE.
calpoidog
In California, that lawsuit would be thrown out because the courts have said it’s not “defamatory” to be accused of being gay (or trans or whatever). It’s not a “victory” if the defendants never answered the complaint and you got a default judgment.
Vince
Good for California. They also got rid of the gate Panic defense too. It’s good to see common sense.
Kangol
Why did I know Queerty would not give us the full history about Kordell Stewart and rumors of homosexuality? This long preceded Andrew Caldwell’s allegations.
When Kordell Stewart was the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers 20 years ago, he had to address allegations that he was gay.
There were rumors of a tryst with a transsexual. His ex-wife even said he never seemed attracted to her.
So the statement that Stewart, who has made homophobic statements in the past, “fought off gay rumors ever since Caldwell blogged about a relationship with the former NFL star” is wrong; they’ve been around for two decades.
Jack Meoff
Does that mean I can sue all those people who thought I was straight? I’ll be a millionaire woohoo
Woody
Where do these men learn how to speak? Did they attend school?
Mikah92
Clowns. Both of them.
WindsorOntario
20 YEARS ago, Kangol?
I’m troubled by what’s happened to society. This whole thing sounds like an incident between two 7th grade boys. If someone is old enough to have been married 20 years ago, and has a child, I’m sorry but you should be able to handle your own business by now. You don’t sue people because they said this or people think that. Who the hell cares? This man just won the ghetto lottery – ‘I don’t have to work for anything, get the right lawyer and sue someone for saying this or making people believe that’. Great lesson to teach his son.
It’s bad enough Americans are trying to make a living off of lying about being ‘disabled’ in order to get SSI and not work, but now people are coming up with these frivolous lawsuits (nothing new about that). Someone needs to be accountable for their actions regardless of what someone said or didn’t say. Someone needs to be accountable for their honesty or lack thereof. But that’s not worth $3 million.
Kangol
Yes, 20 years ago, back in the late 1990s, Stewart faced rumors about being gay. He even had to call a team meeting to address them. Flash forward to today, and instead of just saying look, I’m straight, it’s all good, like Ne-Yo did last week or whenever it was recently, Kordell Stewart is still exhibiting gay panic. There is nothing wrong with being gay or bi or trans. Yep, I included trans. And while people should not tell lies or create stories about other people, unless it’s explicitly designated as fiction, etc., Stewart’s lawsuit and his victory are still excessive.
Kangol
You’d think your homophobia and racism would not be showing again either.
To your first statement, just NO. Homophobes like the people running ISIS or the Islamacist fanatic clerics running Iran and Saudi Arabia and who kill gay people or people accused of being gay, homophobes like Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler who ordered thousands of gay men murdered and then put gay men in death camps and subjected them to horrific torture and medical experiments, homophobes like Omar Mateen who go on anti-gay terrorist rampages, homophobes like the horrible Christian ministers who foment hatred against gay people and then try to “pray away the gay” or condone camps that commit acts of cruelty against gay, bi and trans children, homophobes like VP Mike Pence who push laws based not on science but on fanatical, anti-gay beliefs that have led to spikes in HIV/AIDS, homophobes like Vladimir Putin who could put a stop with a single phone call or speech to attacks and murders of gay, bi and trans people, ALL do far more damage to gay, bi and trans people than anything done by a troubled gay man like Andrew Caldwell who is clearly mentally ill and also traumatized by homophobia, including from his church.