Megachurch Pastor T.D. Jakes has formally denied allegations he sexually assaulted former pastor Duane Youngblood when he was a teenager or his older brother, Pastor Richard Edwin Youngblood, in a legal response to a motion seeking to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against his accusers.
via: Daily Mail
Former pastor Duane Youngblood, 58, accused Jakes, 67, in a podcast last year of attempting to corner and involuntarily kiss him over 40 years ago.
Last month, Youngblood filed a motion to strike the defamation complaint. His brother Richard filed an affidavit in support of Duane's motion and claimed the megachurch donor preyed upon him years ago when they shared a hotel room during a ministry bed, alleging similar conduct to his brother's original accusation.
Richard wrote in his affidavit: '[Jakes] secured a room with two beds in it, and we went to the room for the night. 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 was referencing his erection that he 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 denied the initial allegations that gave rise to his defamation claim and those of the brothers, in support of the motion to strike.
He branded their claims 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.'
Jakes has a net worth estimated at over $20 million, and is best known as the senior pastor at The Potter's House, a megachurch in Dallas, Texas that is the 10th largest in the US with a weekly attendance of around 17,000 people.
He is an advocate of sexual abstinence in his teachings, and in 2015 President Barack Obama praised him, telling Variety: 'What makes Bishop Jakes special is that no matter your station in life, he's there to speak with you, to pray with you, and to see you as an equal in the eyes of God.'
Richard Youngblood's affidavit detailing his alleged experience in a hotel was filed to support his younger brother Duane's motion to strike the defamation complaint, with several other men also making sworn affidavits to support Duane's motion.
After serving time in prison for sexual offense of a minor, Youngblood first came forward in October in podcast interviews with Larry Reid with claims Jakes assaulted him when he was 18 or 19 years old.
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 Jakes called his home and, while 'sitting in a bathtub', intimated 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 sexual assault and harassment, reports the Christian Post.
Jakes said the allegation was 'not only ludicrous, 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 sex in exchange for financial support. And I never groomed, sexually abused, sexually assaulted, and engaged in predatory conduct of a sexual nature towards Duane Youngblood. I never apologized to Youngblood for any such conduct because it did not happen.'
Duane claimed in the motion to strike Jakes' defamation suit that since he came forward last year, he has been 'receiving threats from individuals associated with Plaintiff, including his son.'
In response to the motion, Jakes fervently denied the allegations against him, and submitted an eight-page affidavit.
'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 also said Richard was making his claims because he was trying to get revenge for Jakes refusing to give him a job.
'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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