Bishop T.D. Jakes Filed a Defamation Lawsuit Against Pastor Duane Youngblood — Why?
The megachurch pastor was accused of sexually assaulting and harassing Youngblood in October 2024.
Published Nov. 27 2024, 5:21 p.m. ET
Content Warning: This article mentions sexual assault and abuse.
Days after, concerning his massive audience about his health following a lengthy pause during his Nov. 24, 2024 service, famed megachurch pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes took legal action against someone he believes has defamed his character.
In December 2023, The Potter's House Dallas Senior Pastor, born Thomas Dexter Jakes, was accused of lewd sexual acts while attending one of Sean "Diddy" Combs's parties.
He was also named in a federal lawsuit against Combs in March 2024, as lawyers claim the disgraced mogul used their relationship to soften his public image amid his legal troubles that stemmed from his ex, Cassie Ventura's lawsuit.
Amid his allegations in Combs's case, Bishop Jakes sued Pastor Duane Youngblood, who has made damaging accusations against him that have reportedly affected his health.
Why is Bishop T.D. Jakes suing Pastor Duane Youngblood?
On Nov. 15, 2024, Jakes filed a defamation lawsuit against Youngblood. The lawsuit came after Youngblood, a former pastor at Higher Call World Outreach Church in Homestead, Fla., claimed the Bishop sexually assaulted him when he was a teenager, around 18 or 19 years old. Youngblood made the allegations on an Oct. 27 episode of the Larry Reid Live podcast and accused Jakes of attempting to "groom him" and said he also often hugged and “tried to kiss” him.
According to The New York Post, Youngblood and his attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, offered to "resolve this matter quickly and privately" if Jakes sent him $6 million or he would have to sue him for sexual assault and harassment. Rather than sending over the money, Jakes and his legal team filed the defamation suit in a Pennsylvania court.
T.D. Jakes's team said the allegations from Duane Youngblood has taken an "extreme emotional, physical, and spiritual toll" on him.
In Jakes's team's filing of his defamation lawsuit against Youngblood, they suggested that the allegations against Jakes had begun to affect his health. One week before the Bishop's audience watched his health scare live or on social media, his health was already declining due to the stress of Youngblood's allegations, per his legal team.
“This lawsuit is intended to bring that scheme to a halt,” Jakes's team wrote, describing the allegations. “To end the extreme emotional, physical, and spiritual toll Defendants’ conduct has caused Bishop Jakes, to set the record straight so the world understands the patent falsity of the accusations, and to restore Bishop Jakes’s reputation.”
The team further shared that, while they and Jakes believe victims of sexual assault should be heard and have their day in court, they further denied Youngblood's allegations being true.
“Bishop Jakes believes with all his heart that actual victims of sexual abuse should be treated with the utmost respect, kindness, empathy, and sympathy — and that true perpetrators of such abuse should be held accountable for their actions,” the filing continues. “But that is not the case here. Youngblood has used and abused the might of social media and the legal process to … make knowingly false accusations for his own personal and financial gain.”
The defense also noted that Youngblood is a registered sex offender in Pennsylvania. In 2015, he was sentenced to 54-108 months in jail for violating the terms of his probation when he was convicted of corrupting the morals of a minor while on probation for a previous sex offense involving young people, per CBS News. In court, he took responsibility for his crimes and claimed he was also sexually abused when he was 12, around the same age as his victims.
Since leaving prison, he claims to be reformed and is the author of his book Freedom from Homosexuality: No Longer Living the Lie.
