Pastor Benny Hinn, formerly of Orlando, has dropped his lawsuit against a media consultant for a tweet that the evangelist found false, defamatory, embarrassing and potentially costly. Hinn, now of Los Angeles, filed the lawsuit against Phil Cooke for Cooke's Twitter message on Jan. 10 that Hill and evangelist Paula White were reportedly engaged.
Hinn dropped the lawsuit after Cooke issued an apology on Saturday: "My tweet last month that Benny Hinn was engaged was wrong - my source was mistaken. I'm sorry and apologies to Benny Hinn and his children."
Hinn, who left Orlando in 1999 when he moved his ministry to Texas, is himself being sued by Strang Communications in Lake Mary for violating a morality clause in his contract with the publisher. The lawsuit, which seeks to recover $250,000 in an advance paid to Hinn three years ago, contends that the evangelist acknowledged an "inappropriate relationship" with White while he was still married to his wife, Suzanne, who has since filed for divorce.
