Daystar President Joni Lamb accuses son Jonathan of attempted blackmail, smear campaign
President and co-founder of the Texas-based Daystar Television Network, Joni Lamb, has accused her son, Jonathan Lamb, of attempted blackmail and running a smear campaign in a power struggle for leadership after he alleged she covered up the sexual abuse of his daughter by a family member in the wake of his recent firing.
“I want to assure you that all the allegations that are circulating against myself, my late husband, and other members of my family are completely false and we have already begun to take legal steps to defend ourselves and will address the accusations in a God-honoring way,” Joni Lamb said in a statement Monday about the dispute at the network, which claims to reach 6.85 billion people worldwide and is in 2.3 billion homes.
Jonathan Lamb and his wife, Suzy, alleged in a recent interview with The Roys Report that a family member, only identified as “Pete,” is suspected of sexually abusing their daughter. Pete has denied abusing the child.
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“(My client) unequivocally denies the statements made by Jonathan and Suzy Lamb alleging that he engaged in some form of improper contact with any child. […] Anyone who knows (client) knows that these statements are false, insulting and demeaning,” Pete’s attorney, Mark G. Daniel, said in a letter to Julie Roys or The Roys Report.
Jonathan and Suzy Lamb allege that in the summer of 2021, they caught Pete alone with their unclothed daughter in a room at a beach house Daystar rented for its annual executive retreat in Miramar Beach, Florida, and confronted him about it.
They allege that their daughter later revealed that she was sexually abused. When Suzy Lamb reported this to Joni Lamb, she claimed she was told not to report it to the police.
Joni Lamb reportedly asked that her granddaughter be brought to her in a meeting alone, and after that meeting, the child stopped discussing the abuse.
“I don’t know what happened there,” Suzy Lamb told TRR, but she was like a “lock box.”
“She doesn’t remember one thing,” Jonathan Lamb said. “She doesn’t even remember having that conversation. It’s like it never happened.”
The couple said they secretly reported their suspicions of the abuse to police, but the case was closed because their daughter wouldn’t talk. The case has reportedly been reopened, but no formal charges have been filed.
Jonathan Lamb told Roys that they took their daughter to a counselor in 2023 who reported the suspected abuse to Texas Child Protective Services. The couple says the police investigation was reopened.
Despite their concerns, Jonathan and Suzy Lamb claim his late father, Marcus Lamb, who died in November 2021, and mother worked to protect Pete and Daystar’s image rather than their own granddaughter.
In her statement Monday, Joni Lamb stated that her son was fired after a 15-month performance review during which he failed to satisfy a performance improvement plan. He further refused to "participate in a formal mediation to resolve grievances in a biblical and professional manner."
“Rather than take any steps to improve his performance at Daystar, it seems clear now that Jonathan was focused on fabricating a smear campaign,” Joni Lamb asserted in her statement.
She claims her son tried to blackmail the network into naming him president of Daystar despite his late father’s directive to both his family and the board that the job would go to her.
"We remain willing to put this episode behind us, however, we also require security, transparency, and certainty about our futures at Daystar. To achieve this goal, we would suggest that Joni, Daystar, and ourselves enter into a new contract that clearly spells out my future role as President of Daystar, restricts the ability of Joni (or any other officer or director) from taking actions adverse to our employment without good cause (to be clearly defined), and without prior approval of a majority of the board of directors,” Jonathan Lamb reportedly wrote in an email to his mother.
“In exchange for the agreement contemplated above, we will agree not to use, disseminate or otherwise publish any and all audio recordings that could be harmful or embarrassing to Daystar, Joni or our family."
The Christian Post reached out to Jonathan Lamb for comment on his mother's claims. A response is pending. Jonathan Lamb told The Roys Report that his request about becoming the future president of Daystar was in reference to the succession plan laid out by his father, which stated that Jonathan Lamb would become president should Joni Lamb retire or die. According to Roys, Lamb's email was a response to 13 stipulations Daystar provided to the couple if they wanted their positions back.
Joni Lamb contends that her son was not happy with her marrying Christian counselor and sex therapist Doug Weiss.
“His disappointment in not getting his way only deepened when I married Doug Weiss, who has been such a blessing to me, the rest of my family, and Daystar. Jonathan’s disappointment escalated to the point where he attempted to blackmail his way into becoming the future president of Daystar,” Joni Lamb said.
“I certainly have nothing to hide, nor would I ever submit to threats of blackmail,” she added. “As a mother and grandmother, this situation saddens me deeply, and it grieves my heart, because I love my family. I love all of my children and grandchildren. I love the work we’ve done together for so many years. I had hoped we could have resolved this situation in private, but now he has given me no choice except to speak out.”
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