There have been new developments in the lawsuit between Megachurch pastor TD Jakes and Duane Youngblood and Richard Youngblood. The Youngblood brothers accused Jakes of abuse in a widely viewed series of interviews. Jakes was so disturbed by the allegations that he experienced a medical incident live on air. In response, he filed a defamation lawsuit against the pair.
“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,” Jakes team said in the filings. “I suspect a larger network is involved in this scheme, all anticipating a share of this attempted ‘money grab.’”
“This unwarranted stress brought me to a place of having a health crisis on stage in front of my entire congregation. As a guy who’d had no previous health challenges, this near-death experience was a turning point for me. Enough is enough!” the document reads.” All of this was happening while I found myself helping my wife recover from knee replacement surgery and while helping my brother navigate kidney failure,” he wrote in the statement filed Friday. ”
“In all my years, I have never initiated a lawsuit against anyone,” Jakes said “We filed this lawsuit against individuals who were supposed to be men of God but are not.” The document continued,“I am repulsed by these defamatory accusations and the $6 million extortion letter I received from Duane Youngblood’s attorney, Tyrone Blackburn.”
“This entire smear campaign began shortly after the public announcement of a commitment from Wells Fargo of up to $1 billion for community redevelopment,” Jakes stated. “He remains on the path to recovery, strengthened by his faith, his purpose, and the prayers of so many who continue to lift him up,” explained the executive director of PR and communications for the T.D. Jakes Group “With his doctors’ guidance, he was cleared to begin very slowly to minister during a recent Wednesday Night Bible School class on Feb. 12, and we are grateful for each step forward.”
Youngblood alleges that Jakes suggested a quid-pro-quo, where he would trade physical favors for financial support. “During that period, I was barely keeping my own family out of poverty,” Jakes wrote. “I was not the ‘Bishop TD Jakes’ of today. I was a pastor with no substantial following, and no financial resources.” The embattled pastor says Richard Youngblood’s “story surfaced only after I declined to hire him due to his lack of qualifications.”
Richard Youngblood made his allegation several weeks ago. He recounted how, in the 1980s, he worked as a worship leader in Jakes’ first church. He described how “things started to become weird.” He detailed an allegation concerning a business trip the pair took together. “That night, while I was laying 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 explained. “He was referencing his erection that he was pressing against my back side.” He also described how the megachurch pastor attempted to kiss him.
His brother, Duane Youngblood states that Jakes assaulted him as a teenager. He met Bishop Jakes as a teenager. “When I started to walk past him, he pulled me to himself, wrapped his arms around me, and tried to kiss me,” describes Youngblood. He also claims that the Bishop offered him a three-point plan outlining a sexual relationship.
According to Minister Youngblood, Jakes told him “ ‘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. 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.’”