Bishop T.D. Jakes Sues Former Pastor/Sex Offender For Defamation
Bishop T.D Jakes had filed a defamation lawsuit against a former pastor who accused him of trying to sexually abuse him when he was in his teens, according to the NY Post.
In late October, Duane Youngblood, a former Pennsylvania-based pastor who led Higher Call World Outreach Church, appeared on Larry Reid Live and claimed Jake groomed him for years before eventually grabbing him and trying to kiss him, an action Youngblood rebuffed. (Reid also previously named ‘Prophet’ Manasseh Jordan as one of the alleged victims of Bishop T.D. Jakes’s alleged homosexual predations.)
In what can only be described as a poorly thought-out plan, Youngblood and his lawyer filed a suit against the famed Trinity-denier, quietly demanding $6M from Jakes in return for a promise not to sue him for sexual assault and harassment from four decades ago. The suit alleges this was done to avoid a “to resolve this matter quickly and privately.”
Notably, Youngblood is a registered sex offender who served time in prison, having previously pled guilty on multiple occasions to molesting teenage boys.
Jake refused the offer and instead countersued, saying in his filing:
“This lawsuit is intended to bring that scheme to a halt, 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.
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. 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.”
Some have speculated that the stress of this lawsuit and surrounding storylines caused him to have a medical emergency while preaching last Sunday.