Baptist College Denies It Refused To Hire Football Coach Over ‘Jewish Blood’
Image by RichVintage / iStock
(JTA) — Louisiana College, a private Baptist college, denies accusations that its president refused to hire one of its alumni as a football coach due to his Jewish background.
Joshua Bonadona filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the college and its president, Rick Brewer.
The lawsuit alleges that Bonadona applied for a job as defensive back coach and was interviewed in May by Brewer and head coach Justin Charles. Charles later told Bonadona that Brewer would not approve his hiring due to what Brewer called his “Jewish blood,” the Associated Press reported.
Bonadona was born Jewish but converted to Christianity while he attended Louisiana College. He was a kicker on the school’s football team, and often led the team’s pre-game “Christian devotional,” according to the lawsuit.
Bonadona later took a coaching job for a lower salary at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas.
Brewer said Friday in a statement released by the school that he has been unfairly “vilified and determined guilty by certain persons from across the nation.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
