Welp, the saga continues for Bishop Lamor Whitehead, aka Grand Pastor Flash, the holy man who was robbed by gunpoint while delivering a Sunday sermon.
Source: New York Daily News / Getty
We previously reported that the Brooklyn bling-bling bishop got into it with YouTube personality Larry Reid during an appearance on his podcast, Larry Reid Live.
During the episode, Whitehead accused Reid and his co-host Geneses Warren of making jokes about him being the victim of a televised armed robbery and when I say “accused,” I mean Whitehead exploded into an ungodly baptism of rage, profanity, fatphobic insults, and homophobic slurs as if someone had asked him, “What would MAGA Jesus do?” and he decided to demonstrate.
So, after Whitehead’s monumental meltdown, Reid alleged in not so many words that Whitehead is basically the Shaun King of Kirk Franklins and that he’s a scammer and even had people wondering if the live-streamed robbery was faked. And for that, the Kim Burrell of P Diddys is now suing Reid and another YouTuber who claimed Whitehead is a whole fraud and con artist.
According to the New York Post, Whitehead has filed a $20 million lawsuit against Reid and a separate $20 suit against YouTuber Jives for having a “negative effect on his “income” amongst other things.
From the Post:
Both men publicly claimed Whitehead was a scammer, among other things, leading the plaintiff to lose “business deals, church members, and income,’’ the suits say.
Jives — whose full name is Demario Q. Jives — claimed on his YouTube channel last month that Whitehead “is wearing the same jewelry that [he] got robbed in,” according to court papers filed in Kings County court on Friday.
Jives also allegedly accused Whitehead of “drug dealing” and collaborating with “the Bloods and Crypts.”
Source: New York Daily News / Getty
OK, we can all agree that it would be funny as hell if Whitehead caught the holy ghost and started c-walking and set-tripping for Jesus, but all jokes aside, the lawsuit claims Jive’s comments were “all false,” defamatory and slanderous, and that the plaintiff is seeking “no less than $20,000,000 or such other amount to be proven at trial.”
As for Reid, the lawsuit against him alleges that the podcaster “wrote online that Bishop Whitehead ‘scammed people out of money,’” and that Reid’s statements are false and “exposed the Plaintiff to public contempt, ridicule, aversion, and/or disgrace.”
Meanwhile, on Monday, both men defended themselves against Whiteheads accusations on Monday.
“I’m a commentator,” Jives told The Post. “I give commentary on religion, politics, public figures, everything. We make a lot of jokes, especially about this particular situation, because this guy really is a joke. So for him to try to even file something is egregious.
“He’s mad because people he’s getting backlash, and I’m like, ‘Dude, you’re doing all this talking about a robbery. Who else in the world is out here having interviews about being robbed?’” he continued.
And Reid called Whitehead’s suit “absurd and unfounded.”
“The key thing about a defamation lawsuit is you’ve got to show a loss, and you’ve also got to show malicious intent. I just stated what every other outlet stated, so he should be suing them as well,” he said. “There’s no good reputation to defame. He has no case.”
Both men also recently went live and they’re clearly unbothered by the pending lawsuits.
“If anybody out there needs money, there are so many programs out here in America,” said Reid while laughing with Jives.
“I’m not talking about nobody but some of the people of God got PPP loans,” added Jives.
Redi went on to say that when it comes to a public figure like the Bishop, they have to be “above defaming.”
Despite the laughter, Whitehead’s lawyer, Brian Ponder, seems pretty confident his client’s lawsuit has merit.
“The defamatory statements that are being made are affecting the bishop’s business and church and professional duties, so he’s going to very aggressively hold those people accountable that are behind it,” Ponder said. “This is the beginning of that process of dealing with those actors maliciously stating falsehoods about the bishop.”
Ponder also said there would be “many more” similar lawsuits coming. It’s unclear whether those lawsuits would be filed against the same two defendants or more people that are basically calling Whitehead the Anna Sorokin of T.D. Jakes.
All we know is Whitehead is big mad and sue-happy. Guess we’ll have to wait to see what happens next.