Kirk Franklin is issuing an apology to the Christian community for both his attire and dance move choices during a concert in Jamaica.
In April, the singer-songwriter had the opportunity to perform for his Jamaican fans as headliner for the annual Fun in the Son concert at the National Stadium.
In a video shared on YouTube on Monday (Dec 30), Franklin addressed “moments that had people talking” in 2024. He noted a number of controversies he dealt with last year focused on how he danced during some of his performances.
For the show in Jamaica specifically, he explained that he wasn’t aware the minister would find his attire disrespectful.
“I am aware now that my choice of attire, which as a team we thought was going to be fine being outside in the weather, was going to be something that would not come across as disrespectful,” Franklin said during a section of the just over 16-minute video,
The gospel artist played clips related to each controversy, including one that resulted from how he danced when performing with Bishop Marvin Sapp. Franklin said he wanted people to know that in that case, the dancing was his idea, but Sapp “easily obliged.”
“I’ve spent most of my career dancing and moving around and jumping on stage that I didn’t know that I would ever do anything that would ever offend anyone in any community, but it did. And because it did, I sincerely apologize,” he continued.
While explaining his apology, the musician added that he wants to always be teachable and noted that he considers what he could do differently to make sure that he grows “as a man.”
“I sincerely apologize because I never want to get to a place that I can’t learn, that I can’t learn what I need to do better, what I can do different to make sure that as I grow as a man, grow physically or in any aspect, that I’m always being humble enough and submissive enough to hear people and their concerns about anything being bigger than the message of Jesus,” the 54-year-old added. “It doesn’t matter what my goal and intent is, if I’m louder than the message of Jesus, then I failed.”
Kirk Franklin, a well-known gospel artist and choir director, has received 32 Grammy nominations—not counting his 20 Grammy wins and other awards, which include BET Awards and numerous GMA Dove Awards.