Founder of Hillsong Church Brian Houston has publicly denied watching pornography after an explicit video briefly appeared on his X account last week.

Speaking in an Instagram video, Houston described the X post as “vile” and said he was “disgusted” by the content.

“A good starting point is to say I do not watch pornography - not online, not on social media, nowhere else,” he said.

The 72-year-old pastor said he had witnessed the damaging effects of pornography on “individuals, marriages and families” during his decades of ministry and insisted he “detests it”.

Houston also reiterated he had not been “hacked” and accused some news outlets of reporting false information.

“I never used the word hacked. That’s false. It’s untrue," he said.

Instead, he said his account had been “compromised”, arguing there was an important distinction between the two.

“I don’t believe that it’s likely that anyone actually hacked into my X account,” he said. “I think there’s a different explanation.”

Houston went on to explain that he believes someone may have accessed one of his personal devices using his own password and uploaded the content without his knowledge or permission.

He suggested the incident may have been motivated by personal malice.

“Someone with a grudge wanting to cause maximum damage with perhaps minimum effort to smear me and to humiliate me,” he said.

At the time the explicit post appeared online, Houston said he and his wife, Bobbie Houston, were in bed and unaware of what was happening.

This is not the first time questionable content has appeared on Brian Houston’s X account. In 2024, his assistant blamed a post saying “Ladies and girls kissing” on a hack intended to embarrass him.

Houston has also faced past allegations of misconduct and substance abuse involving two women while leading Hillsong, which he denied. The controversy contributed to his departure from the church in 2022.