Donnie McClurkin’s songs may be celebrated by many, but his words recently got him in trouble in Washington D.C. when he was cut from a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial concert this past Saturday.
According to the Washington Post, Mayor Vincent C. Gray decided to remove McClurkin as a headliner from Saturday’s “Reflections on Peace: Gandhi to King” concert to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington after local gay activists complained about having the anti-gay gospel singer at the event.
“This was an issue involving a potential controversy at an event that was going to focus on harmony and peace, and we just didn’t think that was appropriate for this event,” Gray said.
A mayoral spokeswoman said that the city’s Arts and Humanities Commission, who organized the event, and the singer’s manager had “decided that it would be best for him to withdraw.”
The “ex-gay” gospel singer has garnered controversy for years over a series of anti-gay rants against the LGBT community. In one viral 2009 video, McClurkin slammed openly gay gospel singer Tonex, compared gay people to “vampires” and added “I see feminine men, feminine boys, everywhere I go. These young girls are just as bad as the boys … there are some evil young hard butch girls.”
However, the 1963 March on Washington, where MLK gave his “I Have A Dream” speech, was organized by Dr. King’s right hand man and top strategist, the late Bayard Rustin, who was openly gay. Rustin was recently honored by President Obama, who posthumously named Rustin as one of sixteen new recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Due to McClurkin’s anti-gay stance, many of D.C.’s pro-gay activists felt it was inappropriate to have him associated with the concert.
However, McClurkin released a video on Saturday claiming that he was “bullied” and “threatened” by officials when he was cut from the concert.
“These are bully tactics simply because of stances that I took never, ever demeaning, never, ever derogatorily addressing any lifestyle,” he said.
Although this was certainly a disappointing moment for McClurkin, it’s unfortunate that he fails to see that his words of hate and shame undermine the message of the man he went to D.C. to honor and that they perpetuate the bullying that affects and ends the lives of many in the LGBT community, much like oppression against the black community that King was trying to stop.
Unfortunately, McClurkin isn’t alone. Check out some other anti-gay offenders below. – nicholas robinson
