New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow was scheduled to be a guest speaker at a Texas church run by pastor Rev. Robert Jeffress, a religious figure notorious for his extreme views on homosexuality, Catholics and Muslims as well as other major religions, but recently canceled his appearance.
A media frenzy ensued after the public caught wind of the quarterback's decision to speak at the First Baptist Church in Dallas, leading to Tebow's cancellation announcement.
"While I was looking forward to sharing a message of hope and Christ's unconditional love with the faithful members of the historic First Baptist Church of Dallas in April, due to new information that has been brought to my attention, I have decided to cancel my upcoming appearance," Tebow posted via social media outlets including Twitter and Facebook.
But Jeffress said that he was surprised to hear about the quarterback's decision to cancel the guest speaking engagement and offered his opinion to the Christian Post.
"I think the new information is all the controversy in the media and criticizing of him for coming," he said.
"He never mentioned anything he disagreed with about our message at all, but he talked about the controversy, and I think it was related to what was going on in his professional career, and continues to go on."
Jeffress said that Tebow called him to let him know of his cancellation and that he "needed to lay low and steer clear of controversy."
Jefress' church has oft been ridiculed and labeled as anti-Semitic and full of hatred for other religions and races.
But the pastor justifies these beliefs as longstanding tradition.
"Those are hardly radical ideas," Jeffress said. "Those have been mainstream Christian teachings for 2,000 years, and I believe the reason these statements are so controversial is not because the Word of God has changed, but because culture has changed."