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)

Madea Actor Terrell Carter Caught in Media Spin

The rumor mill ran abuzz this week when Terrell Carter, a star in Tyler Perry's stage plays and featured actor in the famed Madea movie blockbusters, was outed this past weekend by an alleged ex-boyfriend who posted photos on the Internet featuring Carter and him together. Alex Cortez, the boyfriend, began posting pictures on networking web sites and on his profile pages at Twitter and MySpace while also writing about the scorn of the aforementioned relationship going wrong. In his words, Cortez wrote "Hell yeah i’m angry!…there are fucked up ppl out there no matter how nice they seem to be & it’s their fault, ppl they harm are bitter!"

Since the outing, black gossip blogs, gay news sources and other media outlets including MediaTakeOut, Rod 2.0, Sandra Rose, Advocate and PerezHilton have been lit up with hundreds of comments from Carter's supporters and some of Perry's hardcore fans. Sandra Rose, who reported last year that Carter was suspect, didn't help much when she wrote that "99 percent of the actors in Tyler's movies are gay."

The actor is also an indie soul artist who has released three albums, according to CDBaby. Along with his background in Tyler Perry gospel plays like Meet the Browns and Madea's Class Reunion, Carter was a background singer for Fred Hammond and Yolanda Adams.

No correspondence or a press statement from Carter's camp has surfaced since the rumored allegations hit the fan. Maybe he's hoping all of this will die down until the next Madea movie announces casting calls.

J MATT'S COMMENTS:
Since I have been heavily criticized for running a rumor mill at my gospel e-zine and blog (Keish, hope you're reading this), I wanted it to go on record that this blog entry was only submitted because no other gospel web site won't touch it. I was also questioned by the media about the immediate reaction from the faith community. I personally felt it was newsworthy because other news outlets have covered it and it also raises a lot of questions.

Will Carter press charges against Cortez for defamation of character?

When a gospel-related star is in trouble, why do the gospel web sites choke up?

And when issues of homosexuality arise, why is it the church gets louder and the gospel community goes silent?

These and other issues are bound to make you wonder if we are really being effective in our outreach of Christian evangelism. I hate that Carter is now the victim of a bitter, heartbroken drama-king, but the popular, yet paranoia-like proverb remains a careful reminder to our decision-making. It is also a title to one of Perry's stage plays in which Carter was also cast: "What's done in the dark...shall come to light."