Update: Deitrick and GospelPundit Working Together

We kinda smelled this one coming. At least I did.

EJ Gaines, the forerunner for popular gospel blog GospelPundit.com and former industry intern, will sit and chat with Deitrick Haddon over his recent homophobic rant on his Twitter page involving gospel artist Tonex'. The coverage, first broke ground at GospelPundit when Gaines felt it was unacceptable and unnecessary for that type of language to be made in the gospel field. The original post, which featured over 70 comments from concerned gospel fans, has since been removed "pending a discussion that Deitrick wants to have with me." said Gaines on his Twitter page Saturday morning. "While I don't take responsibility for Deitrick Haddon's comments, I'm more concerned with bringing unity to this industry."

That might be the objective, EJ. But we believe it's a little more than that. Maybe you're just giving an olive branch to your fellow co-workers and employer.

Another addition to the story:
Deitrick Haddon's Twitter page, originally made public for his fans and supporters, has now been protected his tweets from outside viewers. What once was public is now private.

Below is a picture of what you will find when you click on Haddon's Twitter page; that's if you're not a follower already.

[THE BIRDS ARE TWEETING AGAIN]

Deitrick Speaks Out: "No Sissy Bone In My Body" (PRAYZE Report)
Gospel Singer Deitrick Haddon: "Not a Sissy Bone In My Body" (Rod 2.0)

In the Twitterhood: Deitrick Haddon Sparks Debate on Homosexuality (GospelPundit.com - link no longer active)

Deitrick Haddon (Twitter)

Gospel Pundit (Twitter)

Deitrick Speaks Out: "Not a Sissy Bone In My Body"

On his Twitter page, gospel artist Deitrick Haddon decided to chime in on the popular online debate surrounding homosexuality in the church. Apparently it created major attention when EJ Gaines posted a thread on his site, GospelPundit.com. Now with over 50 comments at Gaines' site and other blogs jumping into the heated conversation, Gaines extracted from the Twitter content some of the homophobic language from Haddon's statements.

"All Gospel singers are not gay as I don't have a sissy bone in my body."

Apparently outraged from Tonex's recent conversation with gospel artist Lexi on her Word Network cable show The Lexi Show, Haddon also commented, "Listen people. God loves everybody but he hates sin! God destroyed Sodom & Gomorah because the city was gay! You think he wants it in his church?" He did repeat on several Twitter posts that he was not a gay basher or homophobic, but his usage of the word" sissy," a derogatory term for "homosexual" upset a number of bloggers and readers.

"God is not pleased with the anger we exhibit, and the venom we spew," Gaines stated in his editorial. "Just because we say “I’m doing it for YOU, Lord.” We condemn other religions for committing hateful acts in the name of God, we have seen (as a nation) racial oppression premised on people’s errant interpretation of Scripture. And we’ve not liked it....let's do better."

In response to Haddon's comments, Tonex' spoke to popular urban gay blog Loldarian .com and said that he was a "little bit disappointed with the response. I think the term "sissy" wasn't necessary but as a brother of mine, no love is lost here."

Not all stand in EJ's corner. A number of Haddon supporters and anti-gay protesters are also becoming more and more vocal with their stance on homosexuality and Tonex's decisions to speak out about his sexuality. BIGG C left these words, "Come on people, please. Why are we so soft on sin, God aint., yes he’s a forgiving God, but he ain’t soft on the sinning. Homosexuality is sin, fornication is a sin, lying is a sin. It aint being hateful if we call someone out who is wrong, if we base it according to the word of God. DH shouldn’t have to apologize for nothin’. He’s not hatin” or being hypocritical."

Daservant posted, "Ohhh I get it now…SISSY…has been elevated to the big ‘N’ word. Never knew…thought it was just like any other word used…not of the caliber as N*GGER OR F*GGOT OR CR*CKER!, man SISSY is not that serious!!"

Amazingly, the controversial content was removed Wednesday from Haddon's Twitter page and shows no sign of the conversation ever taking place. No word if it was removed due to possible orders from his music label, Verity Records, or its parent company, Zomba.

Haddon, married to gospel singer Damita Haddon, topped the gospel charts in 2006 with Crossroads. In 2008, he released his most recent project Revealed, which featured the R&B crossover hit "Love Him Like I Do," featuring guest appearances from Mary Mary and American Idol winner Ruben Studdard.

In conclusion, maybe Haddon needs to learn a valuable lesson from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), tennis champion Serena Williams and hip-hop icon Kanye West about civility. There's a time and a place to say things. Artists needs to get back to what they do best...stop preaching and promoting their ideologies and get back to making good music. Do we buy their music because of how good they preach or how great their music is? Right now, we can't tell.

Read the other comments from Haddon's Twitter posts below.

[LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY]

Deitirck Haddon Sparks Debate on Homosexuality (Gospel Pundit)
Gospel Music: "There's Not a Sissy Bone in My Body" (Loldarian.com)
YPJ Calls for Order (PRAYZE Report)

Tonex' Opens Up About His Sexuality (PRAYZE Report)

YPJ Calls for Order

Since Tonex opened up about his closet on the Lexi Show, Facebookers and Twitterers have opened up dialogue about the state of gospel music and the need to do something about the most recent buzz topics in the gospel industry today (i.e., the PJ Morton/Tye Tribbett secular vs. sacred debate on CNN, the Mary Mary & Ne-Yo collaboration, Whitney Houston's emergence as gospel star with "I Look to You").

Seems like YPJ wants a piece of the action. And he's calling all cars to the scene of the crime.

Don't know who he is? Well, we don't either. But he's making some noise with his viral Facebook video calling on major gospel artists (including Deitrick Haddon, Mary Mary, Fred Hammond, Tonex', Tye Tribbett, Kirk Franklin, Donald Lawrence, Kierra Sheard, and Donnie McClurkin) to rise up using the spirit of prevention with the hopes to create a healthy dialogue about these and soon-to-come situations.

A brief snippet on YPJ's profile: he's part rapper, part preacher and a Tye Tribbett admirer. His biggest moment in the gospel spotlight was his cameo appearance on Israel Houghton's A Deeper Level project where he raps on "Surely Surely."

It would have been nice if he didn't have to call out the Who's Who in gospel music in the video. Some are in trouble, some are not, some are superstar gospel artists and some are just trying to move away from a murky past. YPJ, on the other hand, does his hardest to bring all the junk into one video. It just seems that the guy, who so happens to be an artist himself, is in desperate need of attention. If he's any good at doing music, I think YPJ needs to focus on the greater good and perfect his gift. The desperate need to bring everybody into one room to try to unify (something that is probably impossible to do in these end times) is like trying to morph Republicans and Democrats into one single political party. YPJ, get in the studio and try to make some music. That's if you can.

In the video, YPJ summons gospel artists to come together and talk about these matters at his state of the art facility.

"I offer you my facility. I have a 2,000 seat sanctuary, 88,000-square foot plaza, which has the accommodations necessary for those of you who may be celebrities and stars, if you need different dressing rooms, whatever you got, whatever you need, I can handle it. I'm offering my facility for free."

By the way, at his request, YPJ is urging gospel audiences and fans to "repost the daily." Not just the message. He wants you to spread the word about the messenger and his video. How clever.

To view the video, you must be a member of Facebook.

[YPJ YELLS SOS]

YPJ calls out Kirk, Tye, Tonex, Fred & more (Facebook)

Tonex' Opens Up about His Sexuality (PRAYZE Report)

Gospel Fall Lineup 2008

As usual, plan to expect a drove of gospel album releases to hit retail this fall.

It seems like the gospel music industry prepares to toss out their very best releases, like Sweep's Week and Season Premieres hit the tube, during the fall. This year should be no exception.

The first project already getting major coverage and media support comes from John P. Kee and his beloved VIP Music and Arts Seminar convention. Live in Miami, featuring guest appearances from Earnest Pugh, Fred Hammond and LeJune Thompson, hits shelves nationwide on September 2. Expected radio favorites will be Kee and Lowell Pye's duet on "I'm Covered" and the infectious "Yes, We Can." Ain't it a strange coincidence that the song bears the same theme of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign. The album will be released on Verity Records with distribution from Zomba.

On the same day, Verity plans to drop Revealed; the highly talked-about album release from Deitrick Haddon. In just two years, Haddon related projects including Tyscot's Together In Worship (2007) and Damita's No Looking Back (2008) . With production from Tim & Bob, Blaze, Baby Dubb Campbell and gospel veteran Percy Bady, Revealed will serve as the tenth album release from the hip-hop/urban gospel singer. And with mesmerizing cover art and photography, Haddon is bound to shake the industry with his blueprint of urban crossover gospel. The album, originally meant to drop August 19, will finally be released nationwide online and in retail stores on September 2.

Gospel's sweethearts Mary Mary will also reveal their latest musical experience - their fourth studio project - with The Sound. A follow up to their 2005 critically acclaimed effort Mary Mary, The Sound finds sisters Erica and Tina Campbell stretching their wings into realms rarely explored in gospel music. The disc melds the group’s love of truth-grounded gospel, mixed with patches of R&B, pop, soul, jazz, electronic/techno and then some. “We consider ourselves to be unpredictable,” Tina says. “We like to think that we’re innovative and original so you cannot figure out what our next move is and you can’t really define our ability or what you think the expectations are.” The lead single, "Get Up", has already been released to gospel and R&B radio and can be downloaded off of iTunes. The album - featuring production from Warryn "Baby Dubb" Campbell - officially drops on October 14 on the Columbia and Integrity Media music label.

Other noteworthy releases we will be sure to follow up on include:

September 16, 2008
Dottie Peoples
Do It
(DP Muzik Group)

September 23, 2008
Sean Simmonds
It's Over
(Xist Records/Tyscot)

September 30, 2008
Paul Porter
A New Day
(Light Records)

September 30, 2008
Terry Dexter
Listen
(Penny Gang's Records)

September 30, 2008
Take 6
The Standard
(Concord Music Group)

October 14, 2008
Stephen Hurd
Times of Refreshing
(Integrity Gospel)

October 28, 2008
Bishop Paul S. Morton & the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Mass Choir
Cry Your Last Year
(Light Records/Tehillah)

October 28, 2008
Kierra Sheard
Bold Right Life
(EMI Gospel)

['08: NEW AND IMPROVED]
New Releases (July - Dec 08) [Nuthinbutgospel.com]
Summer Sizzlers of 2008 [PRAYZE Report]
Word Products, released Fall Quarter [Word Distribution]