#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Dove Awards Issues An Apology, But Kirk Franklin Is Not Fully Satisfied

Episode Date: October 31, 2019

The Gospel Music Association has apologized to Kirk Franklin for censoring his speech during the broadcast of the 50th Annual Dove Awards earlier this month after Franklin released a lengthy video on Instagram threatening to boycott. Gospel Music Association president Jackie Patillo has issued an apology saying: "On the heels of the 50th Annual Dove Awards Celebration, I want to thank everyone who came and helped us fulfill our mission to spread the Gospel through music for all the world to see! Our mission to expose, promote and celebrate the Gospel through music includes representing our artists and giving them a platform to share their voice with a worldwide audience. Due to our broadcast window, we had to significantly edit the Dove telecast to 2 hours, which aired Sunday, October 20th. In light of this, we understand that many were disappointed because there were so many memorable moments and noteworthy portions of acceptance speeches absent. Specifically, we were made aware of troubling concerns regarding the edit of Kirk Franklin's acceptance speech. At the request of Kirk's team, we held our response regarding those concerns until we were able to speak with Kirk privately, apologize directly, and discuss resolutions to rectify this unfortunate issue. With that said, 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. We accept the responsibility of our error. Although completely unintentional, we understand it caused great harm and deeply wounded many in the African American and Gospel community. As well, 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. Members of the GMA board and executives spoke with Kirk and his team this past Friday to discuss solutions that we are currently working to implement moving forward. We will be highlighting those initiatives at a future date. Joining our efforts, TBN has made the unedited version available on their VOD platform. You can watch it here. Additionally, all of our winners have received their full acceptance speeches to post and share on their platforms as desired. In recent years, we have worked hard to ensure that The Dove Awards stage is a platform that promotes unity and celebrates God's diverse Kingdom. Our heart is to showcase that unity and the Gospel message to a broken and divided world. Let us continue to strive to be a light in the darkness and come together to raise the banner of Jesus Christ. Watch the 10.29.19 edition of #RolandMartinUnfiltered https://youtu.be/GCRibkPd6QE - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Life Luxe Jazz Can't make it to Los Cabos for the Life Luxe Jazz Fest? Get your live stream pass at https://gfntv.com/ Life Luxe Jazz is the experience of a lifetime, delivering top-notch music in an upscale destination. The weekend-long event is held at the Omnia Dayclub Los Cabos, which is nestled on the Sea of Cortez in the celebrity playground of Los Cabos, Mexico. For more information visit the website at lifeluxejazz.com. - 📘 Check out #RolandsBookClub and some of his favorite tech gear http://ow.ly/M5zF50uJPam ✅ NOW AVAILABLE: #RolandMartinUnfiltered Merch - https://bit.ly/2VYdQok ✅ Subscribe to the #RolandMartin YouTube channel https://t.co/uzqJjYOukP ✅ Join the #RolandMartinUnfiltered #BringTheFunk Fan Club to support fact-based independent journalism http://ow.ly/VRyC30nKjpY ✅ Join the Roland Martin and #RolandMartinUnfiltered mailing list http://ow.ly/LCvI30nKjuj - Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it.

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by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. You can make this possible. All right, folks, the 50thth annual double wars took place this year and did not suit well for Kirk Franklin's and told you yesterday he released a video blasting them and TBN for editing his comments when he spoke about the death of auntie Anna Jefferson shot by for a former Fort Worth police officer the double wards as since responded apologizing to Kirk Franklin. This is the statement that they actually issued on yesterday on the heels of the 50th annual Dove Awards celebration. I want to thank everyone who came and helped us fulfill our mission to spread the

gospel through music for all the world to see. And then they go on to explain their mission. And they said, due to our broadcast window, we had to significantly end the Dove telecast to two hours, which aired Sunday, October 20th. In light of this, we had to significantly end the Dove telecast to two hours, which aired Sunday, October 20th. In light of this, we understand that many were disappointed because there were so many memorable moments and noteworthy portions of acceptance speeches absent. Specifically, we were made aware of troubling concerns regarding the edit of Kirk Franklin's acceptance speech. At the request of Kirk's team, we held our response regarding those concerns until we were able to speak with Kirk privately, apologize directly, and discuss

resolutions directed by this unfortunate issue. And so they go on and on and on with their statement. You can actually read it online, but Kirk is not fully satisfied because they have not fully put things in place when it comes to what to do there. I want to pull in our panel right now.

I want to start with you, Kelly. Look, my line here is that this is the second time this happened. It happened in 2016, now it's happening in 2019. And Kirk Franklin said there ain't no coincidence that his speech where he talked about social justice and black folks being killed by police got cut. I'm not surprised by it either. If you have any inkling of what it's like to be in the white evangelical space,

it is extremely conservative, whether you're black, white, purple, what have you. Just because you have a person of color, you know, as the face making the statement does not necessarily mean that they endorse or support what Kirk Franklin was trying to say in his speech. As someone who grew up in a megachurch, who was in leadership in a megachurch, I understand, and was, frankly, very frustrated with the fact that politics and racism was sadly integrated into religion. And Kirk Franklin was just, frankly frankly just trying to illuminate a problem in his world, specifically in his hometown. The fact that they tried to censor that is just

unchristian in and of itself. So just because you're trying to cut to two hours to save money and time or what have you, that definitely could have been integrated in the two hours. Something else could have been cut. This statement from TBN and the like, there's just no excuse for it. Jason, bottom line here is the Delaware screwed up again.

They apologized after 2016, according to Kirk, and then here you are, history's repeating itself. Yeah, no, absolutely. There's no excuse for it. This is not an accident. I think this had nothing to do with time constraints. I think that they actually didn't want something that they thought would rock the boat. They didn't want the proverbial Kanye moment of George Bush doesn't care about black people. They didn't want that with Kirk Franklin, And they didn't want to offend anyone.

But I think what they have to understand at the moment is that Kirk Franklin speaks for himself. And, you know, allowing him to express himself, that's what people do with music. And if you want musicians to be able to express themselves through their music, they also have to be able to express themselves in their words. And giving him the opportunity to talk about things that are, you know, central to his being, central to his faith, central to his beliefs. I think it's really important. And they made a huge mistake here. And I hope that they you know, this obviously isn't a mistake. This is something that they did. And I hope that they learned their lesson here because I'm sure

there was a significant backlash. Millick, your comment. I think it's a good thing that Kirk did here. He stood up. He put, you know, put himself on the line, put himself out like that. And I think it's a good thing. My question is, is that, you know, what what what are the remedies that he's seeking and whether or not he would participate, even if they decide to do whatever it is that he would want them to do, whether or not he would participate next year? You know, it kind of reminds me of the NFL situation with Colin Kaepernick. You know, whether what are you going to do about it? And so are people going to boycott it next year? Not sure. All right, folks, back to that. I Mark unfiltered video in just one moment. Hey, folks, second annual Life Flow Jazz Experience in Cabo, November 7th through the 11th.

I will be there, broadcasting, roller-bottom unfiltered there on that Thursday and Friday. If you want to participate, if you want to come out, it's going to be a grand time, 14 amazing acts. Go to lifeluxjazz.com. But if you cannot make it, you can still check out the live stream. You're going to have a guest pass, folks, $10.99, to watch all of the concerts over the course

of three days. I'm talking about some amazing artists. Now, of course, my frat brother, Gerald Albright. Of course, we had Kirk Whalum on the show last week. He's going to be there as well. Some of the other people who are going to be in the house, actor, comedian, Mark Curry. Oh, my goodness. Donnie McClurkin, Alex Boonyong,

Raul Madon, Incognito, Pieces of a Dream, Average White Band, Shalaya, Roy Ayers, Tom Brown, Ronnie Laws, Ernest Quarles. Man, it's going to be jam-packed. If you want to get the live stream, go to GFNTV.com. That's GFNTV.com, GFNTV.com. You can watch all three days, live stream all the concerts right here on your phone, on your iPad, on your computer, just for the cost of $10.99.

So we certainly want you to do that, and we look forward to the Life Luxe Jazz experience there in Cabo. Now back to your Roland Martin. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war.

This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with

kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. We'll be right back. When a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out, never happens before you leave the car. Always stop.

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