T.D. Jakes Says He's a Victim of Diddy Rumors Driven by AI Bots and TikTokers

Bishop T.D. Jakes says his reputation is under attack by AI-generated bots spreading false claims that he attended “freak off” sex parties hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs.

In December 2023, Jakes condemned a “lie” circulating on social media that he was spotted at a “freak off” with the now-jailed music mogul, who is awaiting sentencing for his conviction on transportation to engage in prostitution charges.

The megachurch pastor discussed the issue again, on the Monday, July 14 episode of John Hope Bryant’s “Money and Wealth” podcast.

In this new interview, Jakes claimed thousands of AI bots were dispatched to tarnish his reputation.

“When that first broke out, it was 44,000 bots that were released on me,” he stated, aading that an investigation found “98 percent of them were all artificial intelligence-generated.”

Jakes said Black celebrities like himself, Oprah Winfrey and Denzel Washington are frequently attacked on social media by Black influencers.

“The other thing that it really proved to me, to Oprah, to Denzel, to all the people, is that it’s everybody. It goes along with the turf,” he said.

The megachurch pastor urged listeners to stop getting their news off of TikTok and YouTube, and to instead turn to sources with ethics standards in place, like their 6 o’clock news.

A 2024 Snopes investigation found Jakes was “disparaged in false and unfounded rumors” linking him to sexual abuse allegations against Combs. The article said it looked at a “small sampling of videos” posted online by TikTok and YouTube users, and found some “were at least partially created with AI.”

The article noted that the videos were viewed millions of times, even though there was no credible evidence Jakes did anything wrong.

Once Combs became the subject of dozens of civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse, and later a criminal investigation, those around him faced increased scrutiny.

The Snopes article said the claims involving Jakes stemmed from videos of him with Combs, including the pastor’s appearance said to be recorded at the mogul’s 53rd birthday party in November 2022, that showed him singing “Happy Birthday.”

As Urban Hollywood 411 previously reported, Combs announced in a since-deleted 2021 Instagram post that he was launching a program called Kingdom Culture with T.D. Jakes on the Revolt TV network.

The producer and rapper’s post included a video of the two of them together and he described the partnership as a “landmark moment for Revolt.”

While the mogul later scrubbed his Instagram feed of all content, PR Newswire posted a press release announcing the partnership. Four years later, the release remains online.

Combs said in the news release: “Bishop Jakes is one of the most transformational leaders of our time who has made a profound impact on my life.”

That release is below. You can listen to the podcast interview with T.D. Jakes above at the 26:40 mark.