EGN NEWS DESK
A lawsuit accusing music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual harassment, unlawful drug exercise and intercourse trafficking cites Bishop T.D. Jakes as somebody who the rapper hoped would assist enhance his picture.
The plaintiff is Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, a music producer who the swimsuit alleges has photograph and different proof of Combs’ actions.
Jakes, a Dallas-based megachurch pastor, is just not among the many defendants within the swimsuit, which embrace a number of file labels and actor Cuba Gooding Jr. in addition to Combs’ son Justin Dior Combs and chief of workers Kristina Khorram.
Jakes is talked about as soon as in a prolonged swimsuit that describes Jones as a sufferer of sexual harassment and assault by the elder Combs.
The swimsuit, filed in a New York federal courtroom in late March, alleges Jones has “irrefutable proof” of Combs “detailing how he deliberate to leverage his relationship with Bishop T.D. Jakes, to melt the influence on his public picture of Cassie Ventura’s lawsuit.”
The swimsuit is one in all a number of filed in latest months towards Combs, together with one by Ventura, an R&B singer who accused him of rape and beatings throughout their relationship. It comes across the similar time that information shops have reported federal brokers have raided the hip-hop mogul’s properties and seized weapons and different gadgets.
“As a heterosexual Christian man, Mr. Jones was uncomfortable with Mr. Combs’ advances and expressed his discomfort to Mr. Combs’ Chief of Staff, Defendant Kristina Khorram,” reads the swimsuit, which additionally alleges Combs compelled Jones to solicit feminine intercourse employees and have intercourse with them in Combs’ Miami dwelling.
Jones, who alleges bodily, monetary and emotional hurt, is looking for financial and punitive damages and different aid.
Combs’ lawyer Aaron Dyer has declared his consumer is harmless and “will proceed to battle each single day to clear his identify.”
Late in 2023, unverified allegations of sexual misconduct at events hosted by Combs had put Jakes in headlines. In December, a TikTok and YouTube video alleged that Jakes engaged in homosexual intercourse at Combs’ events.
In a Christmas Eve sermon, Jakes appeared to disclaim these allegations: “I cannot use his sacred day and this sacred pulpit to deal with a lie when I’ve an opportunity to evangelise a fact.”
Representatives of his ministry and companies — who selected to not touch upon the most recent point out of Jakes associated to Combs — decried the claims as false.
“Recent claims circulating on pockets of social media about Bishop T.D. Jakes are unequivocally false and baseless,” mentioned Jordan A. Hora, govt director of public relations and communications for T.D. Jakes Group, T.D. Jakes Ministries and The Potter’s House, in a press release a number of months in the past.
Derrick Williams, govt vp of T.D. Jakes Entertainment, added a press release associated particularly to Jakes’ connections to Combs, the founding father of Revolt Media & TV, a Black-owned media firm that introduced in 2021 it will function a sermon collection hosted by Jakes.
Williams described how he and Jakes had stopped by a birthday celebration for Combs, who has resigned as chair of Revolt.
“We each greeted the household, Bishop Jakes recorded a short celebratory birthday video and left instantly to take our different scheduled conferences,” Williams mentioned. “Any accusation on the contrary is wholly unsubstantiated, unverified and false.”
In late January, NBC News reported that Jakes had been focused by misinformation generated by synthetic intelligence. It acknowledged that “movies have implicated figures like Jakes within the allegations towards Combs with out proof and used manipulated media to depict the celebrities partaking in lewd acts and exaggerated shows of emotion in video thumbnails.”
The information outlet reviewed YouTube channels “posting what seems to be AI-generated pretend information content material about Black celebrities” and mentioned some movies had revenue-earning advertisements for his or her creators.
“YouTube channels counting on what seems to be a minimum of partly AI-generated content material have solely continued to churn out surprising, false narratives about Jakes, Combs and others,” it mentioned.
© Religion News Service
