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Beginning in April 2024, online users promoted a rumor in videos on TikTok and YouTube claiming Bishop T.D. Jakes, 66, resigned from his senior pastor role at The Potter’s House megachurch in Dallas. According to the videos, Jakes’ purported resignation related to sex-abuse allegations against rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs.
However, Jakes did not step down from his church. The users who created, commented on and shared videos about this rumor promoted misinformation. Jakes participated in Sunday services at The Potter’s House Church as recently as May 12 — weeks after the resignation rumor began circulating — according to footage of the services available on the church’s website and 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 contacted The Potter’s House by email to ask about the rumors. A spokesperson for Jakes directed us to past statements explaining the various facets of these false and unfounded rumors.
On March 25, 2024, The Associated Press reported federal Homeland Security Investigations agents and other law-enforcement officers had, hours earlier, searched Combs’ properties in Los Angeles and Miami as part of an ongoing federal sex-trafficking investigation conducted from New York. Authorities have not charged Combs in this matter. According to The New York Times, Combs also faces several civil sexual assault lawsuits from four women accusing him of rape and a man accusing him of unwanted sexual contact.
In a statement posted to Instagram in December 2023, Combs responded to what he called “sickening allegations” against him and said, “Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
TikTok and YouTube users have mentioned Jakes’ name in various unfounded rumors alongside Combs’ allegations, all based on three pieces of information: Jakes’ appearance in a video at one of Combs’ birthday parties, an evidence-free report originating from a TikTok user about Jakes’ purported participation in “sex parties” hosted by Combs, and a passing mention of Jakes’ name in a lawsuit involving Combs.
The first piece of information regarding the unfounded rumors about Jakes regards his appearance in a video purportedly recorded at Combs’ 53rd birthday party in November 2022. The video simply shows Jakes in an outdoor setting during the daytime singing “Happy Birthday” into a camera operated by an unidentified person.
