Why Christian critics need to leave Kirk Franklin alone

The first time I interviewed Kirk Franklin was at the 1998 Dove Awards in Nashville. It wasn’t much of an interview, really; more one of those scrambles reporters often find themselves in at large events.

Franklin had performed with his group, God’s Property, and was then ushered over to the little room where journalists were watching the awards on a TV. He spotted my raised hand and motioned for me to ask my question. I said: “How do you respond to Christians who criticise you for allowing your music to be used on the Get on the Bus soundtrack?” (The band’s song, ‘My life is in your hands’, had been used in Spike Lee’s 1996 film. Christians were still complaining about it two years later).

“The Church gives me hell whatever I do,” he replied. “But it’s all good.”

A crime against Christianity

There have been several times in Franklin’s (hugely successful) career when I’ve been reminded of those words. There was the occasion that he had to re-record ‘Lean on me’ for Christian radio, because certain US Christian stations thought their listeners would “feel uncomfortable” hearing Mary J Blige or Bono on their radios. Or the furore that followed when he wore shorts and a tank top on stage  in Jamaica in 2024. Or the make up he had on for the ‘I smile’ video that supposedly made him look “effeminate”.

Kirk Franklin is a 20-time Grammy winner – making him the most successful gospel artist in history. Yet he’s always responded to his critics with more grace - and humour - than I think I would. The skit at the start of his 1999 album The Nu Nation Project is a classic example: Franklin is in the dock with the prosecutor reading a list of charges brought against him, including such heinous crimes as “taking the Gospel to the world.” The second time I interviewed Franklin (a real interview this time), I asked why we never got to hear the verdict at the end of that skit. His reply was: “It’s up to the listener to decide.”

The criticism that Franklin receives comes from people who believe Christians are to “go into all the world” yet attack Franklin when he does 

I’ve become so accustomed to certain corners of the Christian internet moaning about Kirk Franklin that when I saw his name trending on social media recently, I immediately thought: “Not again – what do they think he’s done this time?”

It turns out that what he’s done ‘this time’ (pun intended) - working with another artist - is just a repeat of something he did nearly 30 years ago. In 1997, he collaborated with Cheryl ‘Salt’ James, one half of the rap duo Salt-n-Pepa, on God’s Property hit single ‘Stomp’ (Salt even accompanied him to the Dove Awards ceremony at which I ‘interviewed’ him).

This time around, he’s collaborated with another female rapper, GloRilla, on a song titled ‘This time’.

The song offers a message of encouragement to people who are exhausted; hard pressed on every side and just looking for a break from the pressures of life. And the break – the rest – that Franklin and GloRilla offer is the rest that Jesus gives. In spirit, ‘This time’ is a modern-day Negro spiritual, delivering hope and resistance in a neat little package. There’s nothing to criticise. 

Only human

Kirk Franklin is not perfect. In an interview with Premier Christianity, he spoke of his shame following the release of a secretly recorded conversation with his son in which he was heard using profane language. Shortly after, he issued a full public apology. But from observing his career for nearly 30 years now, I see a down-to-earth Christian man doing his best to make the gospel message known; a man who consistently strives to bridge communities that have been historically segregated; a man who is honest and open enough to admit when he’s failed, and brave enough to speak truth to power regardless of what that may cost him.

I’ve seen him appear on the popular American radio show The Breakfast Club (not a show for the faint-hearted) and completely blow the hosts away with his humility and wisdom – to the extent that they even asked him to pray for them on air.

Ironically, the criticism that Franklin receives for collaborating with secular artists mostly comes from people who steadfastly believe that Christians are to “go into all the world” with the gospel yet attack Franklin when he does exactly that.

Will there be the odd mistake? Of course, but that goes with the territory. In hindsight, having R Kelly as a guest vocalist on ‘Lean on me’ might seem misguided. But if we’re going to cancel Franklin for that, we’d also have to cancel The Winans (Kelly not only guested on their 1993 song ‘Payday’, he also produced it). Singling Franklin out for collaborating with secular artists seems a bit selective. I haven’t heard critics complain about David Crowder Band collaborating with Ted Nugent, for example.

Hitting back

After enduring three decades of disapproval, there are signs that Franklin has finally had enough. His new double album, I Am What I Am, addresses his critics head-on. And in a recent interview, he told Big Boy’s Neighborhood that the attacks he received for collaborating with GloRilla broke his heart.

Franklin said: “Some of the ridicule that some of the religious have given her - that she’s not holy enough or churchy enough to be able to do a song. She said to me, ‘The Bible says that the rocks are going to praise God…If a rock can praise God, why can’t I?’ I had no answer; all I had was heartbreak. That is such a painful question.”

For himself, Franklin is stoical: “I’ve been listening to what people think about me for going on 33 years,” he said. “I realise that, if I can’t get you to like me by now; it’s probably not going to happen.” 

For the impact that “a miserable group of people” might have on a young hip hop star who chose to sing about God and now finds herself questioning whether “He doesn’t want to hear from me?” - that might make Kirk Franklin’s patience finally run out. And so it should. The Church is a body of imperfect people who are saved by grace. Let’s stop criticising and extend that grace to others.