Christian singer and songwriter Forrest Frank called out fellow artist Cory Asbury this week after the “Reckless Love” singer shared a parody video inspired by what Frank called “probably the most traumatic moment of my life.”
In a video posted on social media, the 30-year-old “Your Way’s Better” singer reacted to a clip Asbury uploaded of himself joking about a vasectomy while riffing on Frank’s recovery story.
Frank said he had seen “the 10th, or even the 20th post” from Christian artists poking fun at his skateboarding accident last month that left him with two fractured vertebrae.
“Man, this is super tough,” Frank said. “I know you all are going to be like ‘Forrest, you’re way too sensitive,’ but this is like … making fun of probably the most traumatic moment of my life [and] my wife’s life.”
Frank, who has more than 5 million Instagram followers, was hospitalized after falling and hitting his back on the edge of a concrete sidewalk. Doctors later confirmed fractures to his L3 and L4 vertebrae.
He shared his recovery online, documenting his pain while also posting new music he wrote while bedridden. His song “Lemonade” quickly topped Apple Music across all genres, while “God’s Got My Back” also went viral.
Two weeks after his injury, Frank said scans showed his back had healed, and he returned to performing three weeks after the accident.
“Did we just witness a miracle?” the singer asked on social media.
The accident also inspired collaborations. After Christian artist David Crowder broke his leg earlier this month, the two released “The Rock.” However, the incident also led to parody injury songs from Asbury, Matthew West and comedian Shama Mrema.
In his video, Asbury filmed himself in bed, joking that he was recovering from surgery. He then revealed it was a vasectomy and launched into a tongue-in-cheek rap. “Snip, snip season, but we stay winning souls/ Spread the Gospel, not my seed,” he sang.
Frank said he understood the humor but called the jokes painful to watch.
“I can totally understand the fact you guys are just having fun, you’re probably not even really thinking that I’m going to see it,” he said. “I’ll just say this: To everybody who’s making these videos, I’m not telling you to stop, but this raises a really interesting conversation with social media, because there’s no seatbelt on social media.”
He later shared a song he wrote for Asbury titled “Misunderstood,” inviting him to collaborate on the track. “Cory, I know that you’re a deep songwriter,” Frank said. “I think it would be really cool if we kind of tackled the subject together.”
Asbury responded with an apology. “Man, I never meant to poke fun at anything that you were going through,” he said in a follow-up video. “Bro, I apologize for being one of those people. I heard your song, and I think it’s really powerful, man. I’m down to go there with you.”
The singer said he often uses humor to cope with life’s heaviness but acknowledged that “there’s been times that I’ve taken it too far, and I’ll own that.” He added, “I feel misunderstood as well, and I can see the bigger picture here.”
Asbury then launched into his own addition to Frank’s song, singing the lyrics: “Sometimes words … cut so deep … even through all pain, still He forgave, so I can forgive somebody too.”
While Shama defended his video as “satire” on social media, West posted a video to Instagram on Tuesday, revealing he’d deleted his parody video in which he dramatically reacted to a bee sting on his pinky.
“I’m going to do what Forrest did, I’m going to turn these lemons into lemonade. Seeing the glass half full and just working up some beats,” he said in his since-deleted video before launching into a comedic song about bees and how they make honey: “It’s all how you look at it, man. When life stings you like a bee, just remember, bees make honey,” he said.
In a video posted on Monday, West revealed that Frank had reached out to him directly and expressed his discomfort with the video.
“He took offense to it, and felt like I was making light of a serious moment in his life,” West shared. “And so I respectfully reached right back out to him and apologized, and we actually had a chance to speak directly on the phone. And before I hopped on the phone, I took the video down, like that’s not my heart, like I’m about celebrating and cheering on other artists.”
West said that though he meant no ill intent with the video, he understood why Frank was offended: “It felt like we handled it in a biblical way,” he said. “I hope we can all celebrate each other, especially when we’re out there telling people about Jesus because He’s the answer and that’s the business we need to be about.”
In the comment section, Frank thanked West for handling the situation in a “biblical way.”
“So much respect man!! glad we got it resolved in the biblical way, love that you’re clarifying everything to your people, and i totally understand your goofball nature now after our phone call lol,” Frank said. “We landed in a great spot and i’m stoked to give you a big hug the next time i see you.”
