Grammy Nominee Says Boycotting Every Flawed Celebrity’s Work a ‘Slippery Slope’

WASHINGTON – Grammy-nominated Gospel Artist Marvin Sapp expressed caution about boycotting all of the work of flawed celebrities, saying it should be on a “case-by-case basis.”

Sapp has a song titled, “Listen” with Grammy-winner R. Kelly, which some radio stations have refused to play after the sexual misconduct allegations made against the artist. While he still believes in the message of the lyrics, Sapp said he understands why certain entities have decided to boycott the song.

“I’m not upset. I’ve always been a strong advocate that the message is always bigger than the messenger but I understand people’s positions so when they pulled the song, they have every right to do so. Lyrically, I still believe in the lyrical content of the song, just, you know, I don’t even sing it so I feel bad about everything that’s going on. I definitely pray for him. I absolutely am praying for the victims and that’s always been my position since day one,” Sapp said during an interview at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday evening.

Some of Kelly’s songs, such as his record with Lady Gaga, have been pulled from music streaming services. Films produced by Harvey Weinstein, who is facing sexual assault allegations, are still available on video streaming platforms. Sapp was asked if he thinks Weinstein’s work should be removed from services like Netflix and Hulu.

“I think if we start doing that we’re going to pull down a lot of people’s stuff. All of us have some level of flaws, some issue, all of us have some proclivity that literally could disqualify us from any area of work in our lives so I just think it’s a slippery slope to try to do some things like that but I do believe that it should be on a case-by-case basis,” Sapp said.