Megachurch pastor TD Jakes has denied allegations of s£xual assault against two pastor brothers decades ago.
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.
According to Richard’s filing, the megachurch pastor preyed upon him years ago when they shared a hotel room during a ministry event, alleging similar conduct to his brother’s original filing.
Richard
He 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 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.
Duane Youngblood first came forward in October 2024 in interviews with Larry Reid, claiming Jakes assaulted him when he was 18 or 19-years-old.
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 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 s£xual assault and harassment, reports the Christian Post.
In response to Duane’s lawsuit, 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 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 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 also said Richard was filing 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.”
