Kirk Franklin is clearing the air on a viral moment from last year after he was caught rocking “hoochie daddy shorts” during a trip to Jamaica.
In a sit-down with Angie Martinez, the 22-time Grammy winner broke down the backlash he received after performing in Kingston, where his outfit rubbed some the wrong way.
Around that time, another clip made rounds showing Franklin playfully “twerking” on fellow gospel singer Jacky Clark Chisholm. He’s since offered apologies for both incidents.
“I had to go to Jamaica last year,” Franklin said. “And I had some shorts on and a tank top, and I got ridiculed.”
He pushed back against the narrative that he was showing too much thigh and even had a little fun with the “hoochie daddy shorts” label. “It was just a regular look that I had on,” he explained. “I had some Travis Scotts on and I was doing a concert.”
@thekirkfranklin KINGSTON!!! Thanks for having your boy @bestdressedja
♬ original sound – Kirk Franklin
“Social media gives everybody that microphone,” he noted. “It’s the necessary capital E word [evil] that you know we all are trying to maneuver with because it does a lot of good,” adding that some are “weaponizing Christianity.. ..Humans, if not surrendered and not accountable, we have capacities some of us to be evil,” Franklin added. “And so it’s not social media that’s evil, it’s the individuals [whose] hearts are not pure and healed and whole and surrendered that use that as a tool of evil.”