Donnie McClurkin Prepares Final Album Months After Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

The gospel veteran is promoting what he says will be his final recorded album months after a former assistant accused him of years of sexual abuse, allegations McClurkin denies.

By EEW Magazine Online News Editors

Donnie McClurkin performs during a live appearance. The Grammy-winning gospel singer is preparing to release FINALLY, which he has said will be his final recorded album. (Credit: Donnie McClurkin/Facebook)

Gospel singer and pastor Donnie McClurkin is preparing to close his recording career with an October album release as he faces public scrutiny from a civil lawsuit filed earlier this year accusing him of years of sexual abuse.

McClurkin, 66, has denied the allegations.

He recently released “Lord, I Thank You,” the second single from FINALLY, the album he says will mark the end of his recording career.

Written by McClurkin and produced by longtime collaborator Trent Phillips, the song follows “Better Afterwhile,” which reached No. 1 on Billboard's Gospel Airplay chart.

“After all these years, through all the highs and lows, I still wake up every day grateful for what God has done in my life,” McClurkin said in promotional materials for the single. “This song is my praise report, and I pray it becomes yours too.”

The album was recorded live and carries the theme “Bringing Gospel Back to Gospel Music.” Promotional materials describe a project built around worship, testimony, hymns and the church-rooted gospel sound associated with McClurkin throughout his career.

Though McClurkin said FINALLY would mark “the end of my recording career,” he has said he plans to continue making special live appearances and touring after the album.

That farewell rollout is overshadowed by serious allegations unrelated to his music.

Giuseppe Corletto filed a lawsuit in Manhattan state Supreme Court in January accusing McClurkin of sexually abusing him over several years after Corletto initially sought spiritual guidance from him.

McClurkin has denied the allegations through his attorney, who called them “categorically false.”

According to the complaint, Corletto was 21 in 2003 when he attended an event at McClurkin's Long Island church after reading the singer's autobiography. Corletto says he was struggling to reconcile his sexuality with his Christian faith and felt a connection to McClurkin after hearing him speak about surviving childhood sexual abuse.

Corletto later began meeting with McClurkin for what he believed were mentoring and spiritual counseling sessions.

The lawsuit alleges those sessions became sexually abusive. Corletto claims the abuse continued while he worked as McClurkin's assistant and traveled with him. He alleges McClurkin held both spiritual authority and professional power over him.

The complaint alleges assaults occurred in multiple locations, including hotels during work-related travel and at McClurkin's church.

The allegations are contained in a civil complaint and have not been established as fact by a court. When EEW Magazine first reported on the lawsuit in January, no criminal charges had been announced.

The complaint was brought under New York City's Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which in 2022 opened a two-year window for certain previously time-barred claims. That window closed in March 2025.

NBC News reported that some parties in such cases have used tolling agreements to extend filing deadlines.

McClurkin has publicly discussed his own history of childhood sexual abuse. He has also long maintained that he overcame homosexuality through Christian faith.

“Lord, I Thank You” is being promoted as a reflection on McClurkin's life, faith and gratitude after more than four decades in gospel music. FINALLY is scheduled for release in October through CamDon Music, with distribution by Syntax Creative.

McClurkin became one of contemporary gospel's most recognizable voices in the 1990s. His catalog includes “Stand,” “We Fall Down,” “Speak to My Heart” and “Great Is Your Mercy.”

He has won three Grammy Awards along with Stellar, Dove, BET and NAACP Image Award recognition and serves as senior pastor of Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport, New York.