Pastor TD Jakes denies gay assault claims.
Jakes, 67, was first accused last year of targeting former pastor Duane Youngblood, 58, over 40 years ago, before his alleged victim's older brother Richard Edwin Youngblood Sr., 62, filed his own allegations earlier this month.
Richard's filing alleges that the megachurch pastor preyed upon him while sharing a hotel room during a ministry event years ago, accusing him of similar behavior to his brother's original filing.
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| Richard |
He wrote in his affidavit: 'Jakes secured a room with two beds in it, and we went to the room for the night.' While I was sleeping that night, I felt Elder Jakes climb into my bed.
Pressing his body against me, he asked, 'Youngblood, do you feel that?' His erection was pressing against my backside.
"I got up out of bed in complete shock as he also [got] up from the opposite side and met me. He grabbed me by my arms and pulled me to him and started trying to kiss me. At this point, I cannot believe what is happening to me."
Jakes filed a defamation lawsuit against the brothers after they went public with their allegations, and in a response to a motion seeking to dismiss the defamation suit he denied the allegations.
He branded their lawsuits a "campaign of lies" and said the brothers were trying to extort $6 million from him, and insisted he has never "harbored carnal desires for these men."
Richard Youngblood's lawsuit detailing his alleged experience in a hotel was filed to support his younger brother Duane's original allegations, with several other men also making sworn affidavits to support Duane's claims.
In October 2024, Duane Youngblood made his claims in interviews with Larry Reid about Jakes' assault on him when he was 18 or 19-years-old.
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| Duane |
He claimed that the attack came after he had been speaking with Jakes for around two hours at the home of an elderly female clergywoman, when Jakes then tried to kiss him.
The next morning, Youngblood claimed that Jake called his home and, while sitting in a bathtub, implied that he wanted a relationship.
"He says to me, without any hesitation, 'there's three things I need you to do. The first one is, when I come to Pittsburgh, you're going to be the only person I sleep with','' Youngblood claimed to Reid.
"The second one is, you can't sleep with anybody else because I don't want to give my wife anything. And thirdly, I will take care of you the rest of your life.''
Days later, Jakes said Youngblood's attorney sent him a letter demanding $6 million "to resolve this matter quickly and privately", otherwise he would bring a lawsuit against Jakes for s£xual assault and harassment, reports the Christian Post.
In response to Duane's lawsuit, Jakes said that the allegation was not only ludicrous, but it is a bald-faced lie.
"To be clear: while I occasionally travelled to Pennsylvania around 1986 to preach at area churches that were part of the Greater Emanuel International Fellowship network, I never tried to corner, grab, or kiss any teenagers," Jakes wrote.
"I never phoned Duane Youngblood to proposition him for s£x in exchange for financial support. And I never groomed, s£xually abused, s£xually assaulted, and engaged in predatory conduct of a s£xual nature towards Duane Youngblood. I never apologized to Youngblood for any such conduct because it did not happen."
Duane claimed in the motion against Jakes' defamation suit that since he came forward last year, he has been receiving threats from individuals associated with the plaintiff, including his son.
Following the brothers' lawsuits in recent months, Jakes fervently denied the allegations against him, and issued an eight-page affidavit in his response to the motion to dismiss his defamation lawsuit against them.
"I have reviewed the affidavits of Duane Youngblood and Richard Youngblood submitted in support of the motion to dismiss. The statements in these affidavits purport to describe situations where I harbored carnal desires for these men. These statements are knowingly and flagrantly false," he wrote.
"I am repulsed by these defamatory accusations and the $6 million extortion letter I received from Duane Youngblood’s attorney, Tyrone Blackburn.
"For years, I have been counseled to ignore the constant stream of low-level smears against my reputation.
"However, the emotional and physical toll of this coordinated campaign of lies, designed to damage my reputation and legacy, has become overwhelming.
"The pain it has caused my wife of 43 years and my five children, whom I have always loved, nurtured, and provided for, is simply too much to bear. Every person has a breaking point. I have reached mine. I authorized this lawsuit because I can no longer remain silent."
Jakes stated that Richard was filing his claims to seek revenge for Jakes' refusal to hire him.
"He hasn’t been able to maintain a job, he has multiple children with different women, and a felony conviction for failure to pay child support. It’s difficult to respect a man who doesn’t take care of his children," Jakes said in his affidavit.
“In all my years, I have never initiated a lawsuit against anyone. We filed this lawsuit against individuals who were supposed to be men of God but are clearly not.”
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