T.D. Jakes Receives the Julie Roys Treatment For the Second Time Amid Sodomite/Homosexual Accusations — This Time Regarding His Annual Revival Meeting in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Daniel Whyte III, President of Gospel Light Society International, Tells Jakes to call and check with his boys, James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll, TO GET A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE JULIE ROYS TREATMENT BECAUSE IF YOU DID SOMETHING SINFUL, THAT IMPACTS THE EVANGELICAL BODY OF CHRIST, SHE IS GOING TO FIND OUT. JULIE ROYS IS A REAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER AND IS A GIANT SLAYER, SO DO NOT GET COMFORTABLE.
On the stage of First Baptist Church of Glenarden International in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, Bishop T.D. Jakes didn’t spend much time preaching from the lectern at center stage of the megachurch.
Instead, the televangelist walked back and forth in his dark suit and striped tie, switching a handheld microphone from his left to his right hand, sometimes facing the predominantly Black congregation of thousands gathered for an annual revival at the start of the year, other times turned toward the clergy and the choir members sitting on the large stage.
“The Holy Spirit sent me all the way to the DMV to tell you this is your year to pivot,” the Dallas-based Pentecostal minister said to cheers and applause from the Washington, D.C.-area crowd, many on their feet on Jan. 5. “You have to surround yourself with people who can pivot because they’re following who you used to be. Now they’ve got to follow who you have become.”
As he expounded on the biblical story of Joshua succeeding Moses, it was not readily apparent that two weeks before, rumors of the kind that might have led to his own succession had gone viral on social media. While some of his many ministries and businesses issued statements in response, Jakes appeared to be treating the rumors as a bit of turbulence rather than lasting turmoil.
The prosperity gospel preacher, entertainment executive and ministry entrepreneur has grown exponentially since his early days as a storefront pastor in West Virginia. Jakes moved to the Dallas area in 1996 and founded The Potter’s House, now a nondenominational megachurch with multiple locations and more than 30,000 members, according to the Dallas Morning News. In 2001, Time magazine featured the traveling evangelist on its cover, asking, “Is This Man The Next Billy Graham?” He now sits at the helm of numerous ministries and businesses and keeps the company of high-powered executives and A-list celebrities.
But those connections have spawned criticism and prompted salacious rumors.
In May, University of Pennsylvania religious studies chair Anthea Butler used her MSNBC column to question Jakes’ new 10-year partnership with Wells Fargo & Company that he has said aims to reduce food deserts and increase affordable housing in Atlanta and other cities.
“(I)n working with a financial institution that’s been repeatedly accused of racist lending practices, Jakes will likely be hurting a Black community he says he wants to help,” Butler wrote shortly after the partnership was announced. “Indeed, his partnership with Wells Fargo is tantamount to his working with the fox to raid the henhouse.”
Kelley Cornish, who became the CEO of the T.D. Jakes Foundation in April after serving as an executive overseeing DEI at Wells Fargo, said the foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization separate from Jakes’ church, is hoping to build 300 affordable homes as part of a new development with retail stores and schools at the former site of Fort McPherson in Atlanta in addition to helping bring a grocery store to an area outside the city that has none.
“I would say organizations that want to come together for good, let it happen,” she said in a Thursday interview with media in response to Butler’s assessment. “The past is the past, but at some point, you have to figure out how do you course correct, and so our partnerships, a lot, are about course correction. And we’re excited about that. We have access to the community that they want to serve or serve better.”
More recently, unverified allegations of sexual misconduct at parties hosted by hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs have put Jakes in headlines. In December, a TikTok and YouTube video alleged that Jakes engaged in gay sex at Combs’ parties. Separately, a talk-show host accused Jakes of improper behavior with a young male.
Jakes, 66, was not available for an interview at the time of the early January revival but appeared to deny the claims during his Christmas Eve sermon.
“I will not use his sacred day and this sacred pulpit to address a lie when I have a chance to preach a truth,” he said. “I will stand straight up, head up, back straight, and preach the unadulterated, infallible word of God because that is what the pulpit is for. But there will be a time.”
Jakes added that even “if everything was true, all I go to do is repent, sincerely, from my heart.” The comment sparked pushback online from those who believed the famous preacher was ignoring biblical qualifications for leaders.
When asked for a statement, Jakes’ ministry flatly denied wrongdoing.
“Recent claims circulating on pockets of social media about Bishop T.D. Jakes are unequivocally false and baseless,” said Jordan A. Hora, executive director of PR & communications for T.D. Jakes Group, T.D. Jakes Ministries and The Potter’s House in a statement.
“It’s disheartening to witness the proliferation of numerous deepfake photos and the distortion of words through false, sensationalized misrepresentations, encapsulating purported statements to falsely speculate and attack others, including Bishop Jakes. … Chairman Jakes, undeterred by false, perverse, ignorant and conspiratorial speculations, will persevere in his continued dedication to create meaningful change for millions around the globe guided by the timeless principles of compassion, service and ministry.”
Derrick Williams, executive vice president of T.D. Jakes Entertainment, added a statement related specifically to Jakes’ connections to Combs, who chaired REVOLT Media & TV, a Black-owned media company that announced in 2021 it would feature a sermon series hosted by Jakes.
“As a filmmaker, executive producer and one of the pioneers of value-based movies, Bishop Jakes, in his role as CEO of T.D. Jakes Entertainment, paid respect to the former Chairman of Revolt during the celebration of his birthday,” Williams stated. “We both greeted the family, Bishop Jakes recorded a brief celebratory birthday video and left immediately to take our other scheduled meetings. Any accusation to the contrary is wholly unsubstantiated, unverified and false.”
While some of the companies Jakes leads or works with, including his foundation, did not respond to requests for comment about the rumors, a number of his collaborators were quick to express their support for him.
“Bishop Jakes is too smart to do something that these people are accusing him of,” said Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. of First Baptist Glenarden, who co-hosted the January revival with leaders of D.C.’s Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church. “I don’t subscribe to just embracing accusations like that.”
