This past Sunday, June 14, Lecrae had a sit-down conversation with Pastor Louie Giglio and the CEO of Chic-Fil-A Dan Cathy. The rapper is known for his Christian beliefs, while Giglio is a pastor at Passion City Church in Atlanta who has delivered homophobic tirades in the past, lest we forget the homophobic and anti-gay history associated with Cathy as well. Given the history behind these two, perhaps the comments that arose from the sit-down are unsurprising, however it is still shocking to see Lecrae involved-- and thus, he's been swiftly dragged by the twitter community at large.
During the conversation, Louie Giglio made some remarks in what seems to be an attempt to justify slavery while also dismissing and minimizing it. As unbelievable as it may sound, he actually said:
“We understand the curse that was slavery, white people do. And we say that was bad. But we miss the blessing of slavery, that it actually built up the framework for the world that white people live in. So a lot of people call this white privilege. When we say these two words, it’s like a fuse goes off for a lot of white people because they don’t want somebody telling them to check their privilege. So I know that you and I have both struggled in these days with ‘Hey, if the phrase is the trip up, let’s get over the phrase and let’s get down to the heart. Let’s get down to what then do you want to call it? And I think maybe a great thing for me is to call it ‘white blessing.’ That I’m living in the blessing of the curse that happened generationally that allowed me to grow up in Atlanta.”
And all the while Giglio is saying these things, Lecrae appears to be nodding his head in agreement, not once debating or arguing with Giglio, at least from what we can see in the clip circulating (watch below). He's also yet to properly respond to the backlash he's receiving for participating in such a toxic conversation.
Giglio has haphazardly apologized in a response to a Washington Post writer on twitter, where he wrote: "not seeking to refer to slavery as blessing-but that we are privileged because of the curse of slavery. In calling it a privilege/benefit/blessing— word choice wasn’t great. Trying to help us see society is built on the dehumanization of others. My apology, I failed."
When Lecrae originally promoted the conversation, it appeared that Bernice King was scheduled to be apart of it, but ultimately she was not in attendance, it's unclear why.
Still, people are coming for Lecrae and his lack of response. Check out some of the reactions to the conversation below.
Let us know what you think.
https://twitter.com/_/status/1272740497669238784
https://twitter.com/_/status/1272740497669238784
https://twitter.com/_/status/1272906297604747268
https://twitter.com/_/status/1272898681096806403
https://twitter.com/_/status/1272893853331226628
https://twitter.com/_/status/1272891716929040384
https://twitter.com/_/status/1272887647028068354