Dinesh D'Souza Still Popular Speaker After Controversy
Dinesh D'Souza remains active with speaking engagements throughout the country following his resignation as president of The King's College. He left his post after facing scrutiny over his relationship with a woman who is not his wife.
On Thursday, D'Souza is scheduled to discuss President Obama's "inner compass" and what is at stake in next week's election at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, Calif. A week ago he was at Stony Brook University in Long Island to talk about his box office hit "2016: Obama's America." D'Souza has two more speaking events planned in the next week.
The New York Times bestselling author, who was raised Catholic and now identifies himself as a nondenominational Christian, has been a popular speaker in conservative and Christian circles. The Indian American gained wider attention after his film "2016," based on his books The Roots of Obama's Rage (2010) and Obama's America, became the second highest-grossing political documentary in U.S. box office history in recent months.
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But the rising Christian figure faced controversy when World Magazine reported last month that D'Souza was engaged to a younger woman though he was still married to his wife of 20 years, Dixie.
According to the magazine, D'Souza stayed in the same hotel room with Denise Odie Joseph II during a Christian apologetics conference in South Carolina in September. D'Souza has denied sharing a hotel room with the young woman and clarified that he and his wife have been separated for two years. D'Souza has filed for divorce.
He also defended his relationship with Joseph, stating that they are not having an affair and maintaining that he was not aware that "it is considered wrong in Christian circles to be engaged prior to being divorced, even though in a state of separation and in divorce proceedings."
"Obviously I would not have introduced Denise as my fiancé at a Christian apologetics conference if I had thought or known I was doing something wrong," he argued.
The couple suspended their engagement amid scrutiny.
The Board of Trustees of The King's College was aware of D'Souza's marital troubles but did not know of other details World Magazine revealed. After a long meeting, the board announced that D'Souza would be resigning after two years as president of the Christian college.
The King's College released a statement on Oct. 18, attributing a quote to D'Souza that he argues he never stated.
D'Souza was quoted as saying that his actions "have not been consistent with the standard of leadership required for the position of president at The King's College, and have created a distraction that would make it difficult, if not impossible, to continue in my role without adversely affecting the students and school I have grown to love." That quote, he argued, was drafted by a press officer and was not approved by D'Souza.
His official statement on his website on his resignation, meanwhile, reads: "I am grateful for the past two years that I have spent as president of The King's College. But now it is time to move on. My resignation will enable The King's College to go forward without distraction. And it will also enable me to address personal matters in my life as well as to pursue new opportunities made possible by success of my recent book and film."
D'Souza's upcoming speaking engagements include a discussion about the economic policies of the Obama Administration in Troy, Mich., on Nov. 3, and a Salvation Army luncheon in Houston on Nov. 8.
