Social media has juxtaposed T.D. Jakes’ recent sex scandal with that of another popular televangelist from the South. TikTok and the X platform have been flooded with people comparing the Potter House pastor’s address to his congregation on Christmas Eve service with the late Bishop Eddie Long’s address before his Georgia megachurch New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in 2010.
TikToker The Nobel Berean called Jakes Eddie Long 2.0. before splicing up two clips of both preachers talking about both responding to rumors about trysts with young men.
After the morning service, Jakes addressed his congregation at the end of his sermon about the rumors.
“Now, I’m gonna close with this. I ain’t come to convince nobody, because I know who I am,” he said. “That ain’t what this is about. You can think whatever you want to think. Here I came to do my job. I came to hear The Master, ‘Say well done thou good and faithful servant.’”
He continued by saying that is exactly what he is going to do, is show up and work for God.
He added, “Some of the same people who doubt me are the very people I’m fighting for trying to get them houses, trying to fix their communities, trying to give them a chance … but if God be for you [who can be against you].”
“What kept me is that every time I showed up here, you were here,” Long said to his congregation after similar allegations arose. “My family loved [me]. My church loved me, and regardless of what anybody said, love lifted me and carried me.”
Another TikToker made a mashup of both Long and Jakes denying allegations against them. Long calls himself David, using the biblical analogy of the biblical figure fighting Goliath. Jakes also says he is being lied on, but in his clip he says he will address the allegations at a later date.
Like Jakes, Long was a charismatic clergyman who grew a small church of 300 people into a megachurch of 25,000, through his television, international ministries, and satellite churches throughout the country.
Unlike Jakes, Long faced civil lawsuits in 2010 from four young men, Maurice Robinson, Anthony Flagg, Jamal Parris, and Spencer LeGrande, alleging sexual misconduct. Two claimed Long groomed them at the church’s LongFellows Youth Academy. The others, one from a Charlotte satellite church, made similar claims.
The complaints alleged that he used money, religion, influence, trips, gifts, and jobs to coerce them into sexual relations with him.
Less than a year after those filings, Long settled the cases for undisclosed amounts.
While Jakes has not given a detailed response to the current allegations, he did vaguely address his flaws and shortcomings, saying, “I’m here to tell you, I’m OK. I’m OK because I never told you I was perfect.”
As he talked about never putting down anyone, he added, “I got my own flaws and my own faults, but I didn’t do that. That ain’t the kind of stuff you forget.”
The things that Jakes is saying he did not do are attend sex parties hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs, engage in same-sex relationships, or participate in sexual conduct with a minor.
The allegations started to circulate on Monday, Dec. 18, after bloggers alleged the preacher’s name and down-low activities were included in an email from singer Cassie Ventura to the FBI about her ex Diddy.
Such an email has not been confirmed by Ventura, any media outlet, or the Justice Department.
