Following Reid’s Warning, TD Jakes Drops Defamation Lawsuit
Heeding Public Advice, TD Jakes Ends “Ill-Advised” Defamation Case
TD Jakes Finally Drops Defamation Suit, Following Dr. Larry Reid’s Counsel
TD Jakes’ “Satanic Fiasco”: Defamation Suit Dropped Amid Ongoing Scandal
From Mega Fest to Mega Mess: TD Jakes Drops Lawsuit as Accusations Pile Up
A “Continuing Saga of Shame”: TD Jakes Voluntarily Dismisses Defamation Case
TD Jakes Voluntarily Dismisses Defamation Suit Against Accuser Duane Youngblood
Amid Allegations, Bishop TD Jakes Drops Defamation Lawsuit
TD Jakes Takes the Publicly Offered Advice of Dr. Larry Reid Again and Shuts Down Ill-Advised Defamation Lawsuit
Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International, says this is a continuing saga of shame! TD Jakes should stop using stupid legal language like “he does not have ‘carnal desires’ for men” and just tell the truth: that he has participated in homosexual activity, apologize to these men, work out a payment plan, and put this horrifying, disturbing, unspeakable story to rest. Dr. Larry Reid, who knows what Jakes has done in the past, warned him not to lie about the evil he has done. Now, here it is nearly three years after Reid warned Jakes, and the church and the world are still hearing about Jakes being involved with young men in a homosexual fashion. This ill-advised defamation lawsuit has extended this unique shame for another nearly two years. Whyte tells TD Jakes, “Shut this satanic fiasco down now! By continuing with this foolishness, you are Satan’s best friend and the church’s worst enemy. It is really time for you to do what Shakespeare said and ‘exit the stage.’ You are doing too much, and you have done enough. Only Satan and sin can take a man from Mega Fest to Mega Mess in just a few short years. May God have mercy on your soul.”
After nearly a year of dueling filings and a failed effort to recover more than $76,000 in legal fees, Bishop T.D. Jakes has voluntarily dismissed a defamation lawsuit against ex-pastor-turned-registered sex offender Duane Youngblood, who accused Jakes of sexually assaulting him 40 years ago.
“Pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(a)(ii), Plaintiff Thomas Dexter Jakes hereby gives notice that the above-captioned action is voluntarily dismissed by consent of all parties who have appeared in this action,” the brief notice of dismissal filed by both attorneys for Jakes and Youngblood in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania last Thursday.
Jakes, 68, who founded The Potter’s House megachurch in Dallas, Texas, filed the defamation lawsuit against 59-year-old Youngblood on Nov. 25, 2024, a day after he suffered what was later revealed to be a heart attack while preaching.
Youngblood claimed in interviews with internet personality Larry Reid on his “Larry Reid Live” show on Oct. 28 and Nov. 3, 2024, that Jakes assaulted him when he was about 18 or 19 years old.
Jakes has denied the allegations. Youngblood claimed to Reid that he had been talking with Jakes for about two hours at the home of an older adult clergywoman, where he was staying during a local church revival approximately 40 years ago, when Jakes tried to kiss him.
“After sitting there and having this long discourse with him, I finally looked at my watch, and I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness, I got to go. I got to get this car back to my mother. She’s gonna kill me.’ So I said to bishop, ‘I got to get up,'” Youngblood recalled.
“And I got up from the table, he got up from the table, he walked around toward the way I had to exit quicker than I got over there, and when I started to walk past him, he pulled me to himself, wrapped his arms around me, and tried to kiss me. And in that moment, I literally died.”
The morning after the encounter, Youngblood alleges Jakes called his home and intimated that he wanted him to become a local sex partner.
Youngblood’s older brother, Pastor Richard Edwin Youngblood, also accused Jakes of attempting to sexually assault him years ago while he shared a hotel room with the bishop during a ministry trip.
“He secured a room with two beds in it, and we went to the room for the night. That night, while I was lying in my bed, I felt Elder Jakes climb into my bed. He pressed his body against mine and asked, ‘Youngblood, do you feel that?’ He was referencing his erection that he was pressing against my backside,” Richard Youngblood wrote in his affidavit.