(RNS) — Since late last year, Bishop T.D. Jakes, a Dallas megachurch pastor, has largely ignored social media posts linking him to Sean “Diddy” Combs, the hip-hop mogul who is the subject of several lawsuits alleging abusive behavior. A rare public response came in a sermon Jakes gave Christmas Eve, when he said, “I will not use his sacred day and this sacred pulpit to address a lie when I have a chance to preach a truth.”
Now, the fact-checking website Snopes has done the talking for Jakes, determining that Jakes has been the victim of misinformation, partly generated by artificial intelligence.
The website reported Tuesday (May 14) that YouTube and TikTok videos that began to appear in April claiming Jakes had resigned as senior pastor of The Potter’s House, his Texas church, were false.
“According to the videos, Jakes’ purported resignation related to sex-abuse allegations against rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs,” Snopes reported. “However, Jakes did not step down from his church.”
The bestselling author, the site noted, took part in services at his church as recently as Sunday (May 12), where he could be seen via The Potter’s House YouTube channel.
“This false rumor was simply the latest chapter in a months-old series of videos — many at least partially created with the assistance of artificial-intelligence tools — promoting unfounded rumors claiming Combs hosted ‘sex parties’ in which Jakes participated,” Snopes concluded.
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The unreality of the rumors has not inhibited either their creators or viewers, Snopes said: “We found no shortage of videos promoting the false and unfounded rumors about Jakes and Combs.” Several have received hundreds of thousands of views, it added.
Bishop T.D. Jakes, left, and hip-hop entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs. (Jakes: courtesy of The Potter’s House of Dallas Inc.; Combs: AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
In December, Jordan A. Hora, executive director of PR and communications for T.D. Jakes Group, T.D. Jakes Ministries and The Potter’s House, described the claims about the Pentecostal minister as “unequivocally false and baseless.” She said Jakes intended to continue his ministry undeterred.
“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,” she said.
Hora did not immediately comment on the Snopes report.
According to a separate December statement from Derrick Williams, executive vice president of T.D. Jakes Entertainment, Williams and Jakes stopped by a birthday celebration for Combs, who is a co-founder of Revolt Media & TV, which had announced in 2021 that it would feature a sermon series hosted by Jakes.
“We both greeted the family, Bishop Jakes recorded a brief celebratory birthday video and left immediately to take our other scheduled meetings,” Williams said of the event featuring Combs, who has resigned as Revolt’s chair. “Any accusation to the contrary is wholly unsubstantiated, unverified and false.”
Combs, whose lawyer has declared him innocent in the wake of federal agents’ searches of his property, was recently sued by Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, a music producer who accuses the music mogul of sex trafficking and other wrongdoing.
The suit cites Jakes in passing as someone who the rapper hoped would help improve his image, but the minister is not among the defendants in the March filing.
The Snopes report is not the first to highlight the role of artificial intelligence in online misinformation about Jakes.
In late January NBC News stated that “videos have implicated figures like Jakes in the allegations against Combs without evidence and used manipulated media to depict the celebrities engaging in lewd acts and exaggerated displays of emotion in video thumbnails.”
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