Gospel singer Mali Music sparked controversy last night when he implied that the Orlando mass shooting victims didn’t make it into Heaven.
During a concert at Howard Theater in Washington DC on Tuesday, the 28-year-old Arizona native asked the crowd, “Anybody want to make it into Heaven?”
As the audience applauded, he continued, “There was about, um, thirty couple of people who went to a place a couple of nights ago, and they wasn’t expecting to be thinking about Heaven too soon. So it’s important that you really do be trying to go.”
Reading between the lines, the implication is the victims didn’t make it into Heaven because they weren’t trying to go. In other words, they weren’t thinking about getting into Heaven since they were at a gay bar.
The cavalier manner in which he stated the number of victims as “thirty couple” (instead of 49) and the dismissive hand wave seemed condescending and judgmental.
Outraged Twitter users took the singer to task:
But Mali’s supporters were quick to jump to his defense, saying earwitnesses misinterpreted what he said.
Gospel singer Michelle Williams (of Destiny’s Child fame) tweeted: “Fact checking is a thing of the past. Folks were ready to destroy @MaliMusic for something he CLEARLY didn’t say!”
Fact checking is a thing of the past. Folks were ready to destroy @MaliMusic for something he CLEARLY didn't say! ? https://t.co/x0CsXip2Us
— Michelle Williams (@RealMichelleW) June 15, 2016
Mali’s first album Mali Is… was nominated for a Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album. He is set to headline the Essence Music Festival in July.
Click here to watch the video and judge for yourself. He makes the statement around the 3:42 mark.
