Popular gospel artist Kirk Franklin confessed to being an imperfect Christian who fails and sins at times after his penchant for twerking at his concerts was made the butt of a wincing joke by comedian Kevin Hart at the 2025 BET Awards on Monday.
Franklin, 55, who closed out the awards show with a praise-filled medley of his songs, was honored at the event with an Ultimate Icon Award along with celebrity entertainers Mariah Carey, Jamie Foxx and Snoop Dogg.
The award celebrates veteran artists who have delivered “decades of groundbreaking contributions to music, entertainment, advocacy, and community impact.”
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In his opening monologue, Hart, who hosted the show, took lobs at multiple entertainers in attendance, including Franklin, who was sitting next to his wife, Tammy.
“Kirk, do me a favor; when you get your award tonight, don’t come up here front twerking. OK?” Hart warned as the audience erupted in laughter. “Yeah, don’t come up here popping [bleep]. Don’t do it. Don’t do it, Kirk. Don’t do it. That’s what Kirk be doing. He trying to blame it on the Lord. The Lord didn’t ask for that. Put it away, Kirk. Put it away.”
The joke was a dig at a reputation Franklin has developed in recent years for exhibiting secular behavior at his concerts, over which some conservative Christians have raised alarm.
Some of that concern forced Franklin to publicly apologize after drawing the ire of conservative Christians in Jamaica for gyrating and flexing his biceps while ministering in a tank top and shorts at a popular annual Christian concert on the island.
“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,” Franklin said in the apology.
“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,” he added. “It doesn’t matter what my goal and intent is; if I’m louder than the message of Jesus, then I failed.”
He also addressed a viral video that shows him twerking on a singer during his The Reunion Tour with The Clark Sisters, Yolanda Adams, Marvin Sapp and Fred Hammond. He said he was just joking around with the singer and agrees in hindsight that it was “too much.”
“I play too much, I’m friends with these people, we have fun backstage, and I don’t know how to separate the backstage Kirk from onstage Kirk,” he stated, adding that what people see him doing onstage is simply who he is.
Kevin Hart didn’t realize God was rebuking Kirk Franklin through him. pic.twitter.com/xRyZEHRusI
— Semitic Jew (@semitic_jew) June 10, 2025
In his speech accepting the Ultimate Icon Award, Franklin admitted to having imperfections but noted that God has continued to use him despite them.
“I am not perfect. I fail. I sin. I’m not a perfect Christian. I’m not a perfect husband, and we all know I’m not a perfect father. I’m not even a perfect artist because I can’t even sing, which makes this award even more amazing because what I really do don’t make sense,” Franklin said.
“And if you’re listening to this, that’s when you know it’s God, when it don’t make sense. When you got that job you were least qualified for don’t make sense. You’re the first in your family to break generational curses, but you’re the same one the family talks about don’t make sense. When you try to explain how favor ain’t fair to people that have been doing it longer than you, but you get the results quicker, don’t make sense,” he added.
“How those that hate on you ended up only helping you, don’t make sense. And lastly, those same people, look how quickly they come back around when you start to finally make sense.”
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