Gospel musician Kirk Franklin says he’s boycotting the Gospel Music Association Dove Awards because they edited out parts of his speech that addressed police brutality. Fellow gospel singer Lecrae says he’s standing with him. More inside…
Kirk Franklin is fed up with the Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. The reason? Well, the association edited not one, but two of his acceptance speeches on different occasions, taking out very important issues he wanted to address before the masses.
So since they keep editing out his speeches, he’s done with them. For good. The "Lean On Me" musician discovered his acceptance speech was heavily edited for television, omitting key points from his message. Kirk won the Gospel Artist of the Year Award at the 50th Annual GMA Dove Awards held October 15th in Nashville. The awards show aired on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) on October 20th.
Apparently, they took out his remarks about police brutality, specifically what he said about Atatiana Jefferson, the 28-year-old black woman who was shot and killed inside her home by a Fort Worth, TX police officer.
Kirk then decided to post a video on Instagram to air out his frustrations with the Dove Awards committee and TBN reps. The thing is, this isn’t the first time the GMA & TBN edited his speech. In 2016, he won Best Gospel Artist at the Dove Awards and they edited his acceptance speech where he addressed the shooting of both police officers and black men (like Philando Castile) in general.
"I asked everyone in the audience and those viewing to join me in prayer for not only Atatiana's family, including her 8-year-old nephew who witnessed the killing, but also for the family of the police officer. Last week, during the airing of the awards on the same network, again, that part of my speech was edited out."
He said he made the decision to not attend any events that are affiliated with the Dove Awards, GMA or TBN until tangible plans are put in place.
He continued, “Not only did they edit my speech, they edited the African American experience."
The 49-year-old musician said he isn’t asking anyone to join him in the boycott. He said this is his personal choice to take a stand "and hold responsible those in positions of power to acknowledge the issues in our separate communities that have existed from colonialism to Jim Crow."
Peep his announcement below:
Several celebs responded to his video in the comments section, saying they were standing with him in the boycott.
"I only came (to the Doves) cause you came," gospel rapper Lecrae posted in his comments. "You know I’m out."
"I support you!," former Destiny's Child singer/gospel singer Michelle Williams said.
"Thank you Kirk. Standing with you," journalist Shaun King wrote.
Following Kirk's video being posted, the Gospel Music Association issued an apology.
"We would like to publicly acknowledge that we are deeply apologetic for the missteps that happened relating to the editing of Kirk Franklin's Dove Awards acceptance speech," said Jackie Patillo, the association president, in an official statement.
"It left a general perception that we are not concerned with key social issues that affect people of color. It is not our intent to disregard or silence any of our artists, and we are deeply saddened by this perception and are committed to change this."
Hmm...we def get they have to edit down speeches to make sure the show fits in the time slot, but it's very telling how both times, him addressing police brutality was edited it out. Thoughts?
Photo: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
source: theybf
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