RALEIGH - The head of Smithfield's Chicken 'n Bar-B-Q took the stand Friday to defend himself against accusations that he systematically fired men who refused his sexual advances.

Gregory A. Moore, 51, president of the Eastern North Carolina chain with 32 restaurants, lashed out at Jason Hallaman, the only plaintiff in the pending trial, and said Hallaman tried to blackmail him.

"If I didn't give him a million dollars, he was going to expose me and my family," Moore said. "He was going to tell everyone that I was gay."

Hallaman's attorneys said there was no truth to Moore's claims of extortion.

The 39-year-old man spent nine weeks in 2002 working for Moore as a house manager, or butler, at Moore's seven-acre estate in West Raleigh. Hallaman is now asking a Wake County jury to award him at least $10,000 in damages for what he's described as unjust termination and malicious prosecution. Hallaman was arrested following a complaint Moore made to police about a forged check.

A panel of Wake County jurors has spent nearly two weeks listening to wildly differing testimony about Hallaman's termination. Hallaman contends he was fired unjustly because he refused Moore's sexual advances. He said Moore climbed into bed with him and jumped into the shower with him, uninvited, during weekend visits to Moore's vacation homes. Hallaman also said he told Moore on several occasions that he wasn't interested in a sexual relationship.

Moore, on Friday, said he fired Hallaman because of the man's temper, work performance and an instance where Hallaman signed Moore's name to a check to a company that cleaned Moore's cars.

"You have no boundaries," Moore said he told Hallaman when he fired him. "You are into everything."

Several other men, including four who testified about sexual advances Moore made, have accused Moore of similar behavior. On the stand Friday, Moore implied that all the men were lying. Two other men aside from Hallaman have sued Moore. One of those cases settled for an undisclosed sum; the other is pending.

During the day-long testimony, Moore remained calm as he answered his attorney's questions. He became teary on several occasions including during testimony about a 2002 divorce from his wife of more than 20 years. She is also the mother of his three children.

Moore also disputed the testimony of a Wake County detective who investigated a check written out to Dirty Deeds, a car detailing company. Moore claimed Hallaman signed Moore's name to the check.

The detective told jurors earlier in the week that Moore said he'd never heard of Dirty Deeds. However, on Friday, Moore said he regularly used Dirty Deeds and speculated that the detective misunderstood him when he reported the forgery in November 2002. Hallaman was arrested on felony forgery charges based on Moore's assertions, but those charges were later dropped.

During the course of the trial, private, and some unflattering, aspects of both men's lives and contentious divorces have slipped out.

A brief break from the tension in the courtroom came after Moore testified Friday that he was bisexual.

He asked his attorney for a brief second to collect himself after the public revelation.

"That was kind of a big one for me," he said, eliciting sympathetic chuckles from jurors, attorneys and courtroom spectators.

He referenced the television news cameras in the courtroom audience that recorded him "coming out" about his sexuality.

"That's got to be a first for North Carolina," he said.

Hallaman's attorneys are expected to cross-examine Moore when the trial resumes Monday.

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