Bishop TD Jakes's lawyer is pushing back on YouTube channels that have uploaded AI-generated videos of him and Diddy being in bed together. The celebrity pastor's lawyer is now suing YouTube, accusing the platform of failing to uphold its own policies.
As reported by NBC News, this Thursday, Jakes's legal counsel, Dustin Pusch, sought to have Google, YouTube’s parent company, subpoenaed. He filed the motion in the Northern District of California and is attempting to access the identities of users behind four separate accounts. Per the outlet, these individuals are allegedly located in Pakistan, South Africa, the Philippines, and Kenya.
What we know about TD Jakes' motion to subpoena YouTube's account holders: Who, where, why and more
The motion claims all of these accounts, and more, have been making false claims about TD Jakes and Diddy in the last year alone, with the use of AI tools like fake images/thumbnails and voiceovers. Per Complex, these AI-generated videos can then be monetized, raking in sizeable profits for both YouTube and the account holders.
“These YouTubers are purportedly using the sordid and sensational allegations revolving around Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to attack, humiliate, degrade, and defame Bishop Jakes—and many other prominent black celebrities—with manufactured claims that he is guilty of the same crimes and other lewd and repulsive conduct as Mr. Combs,” the motion reads, per Complex. “In other words, YouTubers are using Bishop Jakes’s prominence as clickbait to attract unwitting users to view their knowingly false videos for their (and possibly other foreign companies’) financial gain.”
The motion also outlines instances where TD Jakes's legal counsel purportedly attempted to get in touch with that of YouTube in the last year, to no avail. Complex reports that should Jakes's motion prove successful, he could sue the four account holders for defamation.
“This action is about more than just defending Mr. Jakes’ reputation,” Pusch said in a statement, per Where Is The Buzz. “It’s about holding platforms and creators accountable for weaponizing AI to harm individuals for profit.”
Just last year, when the rumors of the Bishop and Diddy getting intimate first emerged, TD Jakes' team issued a statement rubbishing such claims. Per Complex, Jordan A. Hora, executive director of public relations and communications for the T.D. Jakes Group, T.D. Jakes Ministries and The Potter’s House said at the time:
"Recent claims circulating on pockets of social media about Bishop T.D. Jakes are unequivocally false and baseless." He went on, "What has always been true, in the words of the late Pastor Charles H. Spurgeon, ‘If you want the truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world it will fly; it is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it."
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YouTube has yet to issue a statement pertaining to the same. However per NBC, while TD Jakes' lawyer contends that the platform has failed to flag any of the lewd videos and claims generated with the help of AI, the platform has taken action on some of these videos.
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