Roommates, it sounds like Marvin Sapp is still feeling the heat since going viral for making a $40,000 donation request at a church service. As previously reported, Sapp had ordered ushers to “close the doors” and laid out directives for the parishioners, choir, and clergy to reach the financial goal. Now, he claims he has been receiving death threats over the whole fiasco, and his adult children are scared.
RELATED: Whew! Marvin Sapp Breaks Silence After $40,000 Church Donation Request Sparks Outrage On Social Media
Marvin Sapp Clarifies Three Points About Viral Church Video
The gospel singer pulled up to the ‘Rickey Smiley Morning Show’ on March 31 to set the record straight. In the published 11-minute conversation, Sapp said “people took issue” with his approach to the $40,000 church donation. However, he clarified that he never directed the ushers to lock the doors, only to “shut” them. Sapp also said the doors didn’t have the ability to be locked because the location was a convention center.
“Shutting doors means people still have the ability to go in and out,” Sapp said. “They’ve taken issue with my tone, and I can honestly say, you know, looking at the video, maybe I was a little more assertive than I should’ve been, and I can apologize for that.”
For clarity, the viral video shows Marvin Sapp repeatedly saying, “CLOSE the doors,” not shut. After a few repeats, he also added, “We all gon’ leave here together. Y’all ain’t going nowhere but to the restaurant.”
On the morning show, Marvin Sapp clarified a few more things, including what happened to the money people donated. He said the money was used to pad the church’s conference budget, and he didn’t get any cuts of it. Also in the interview, he went IN about not needing a $40,000 donation for his benefit due to his sound financial status and multple streams of income.
“I’m not walking around here trying to be a pimp. I’m not trying to take advantage of people. That’s never been my passion. I’m serious about minstry,” Sapp explained.
Sapp also said that the viral request didn’t happen at HIS church but at a Baltimore church, where he apparently was an invited guest. For further clarity, the viral video was filmed at the 2024 PAW Convention in Baltimore in July 2024. Additionally, Marvin talked about his tone with the ushers, explaining that they were walking during known sacred moments like the altar call, prayer, and offerings.
Singer Explains How Backlash Has Allegedly Escalated
Still, on the Rickey Smiley Morning Show, Marvin Sapp shared that people are escalating the viral moment. He said critics are sharing death threats and pulling up to his church to cause “problems.”
“…People have taken clickbait and made something out of it that it isn’t, and because of that, my church has been getting phone calls. People have called my church and cussed me out. My staff are afraid because I’ve received death threats over $20 and shut the door. People have come to our campus, they have come to my church to try to cause problems, issues, challenges.”
He claims that he isn’t reading the comments on his public profiles, but his adult children are. For context, the singer has a son and two daughters named Marvin II, MiKaila, and Madisson. His youngest, Madisson, is 25 years old.
“They are afraid, and the reason being I am their only parent. I’m a widower. They’re afraid for my safety. So now we’ve had to update and increase security and all the things I’ve never had to do before because of the vitriol and the anger that people have shown, the things they’ve said in my thread and stuff. And all of this is because of a misunderstanding.”
SWIPE BELOW TO SEE CLIPS OF WHAT HE SAID & TAP HERE FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW.
Marvin Sapp Previously Said THIS About Viral Moment
As mentioned, Marvin interview on the ‘Rickey Smiley Morning Show’ isn’t the first time he’s spoken out since going viral. After the video made its rounds, he took to Facebook with a lengthy message defending his actions.
“Conferences have budgets. Churches have budgets. And people have budgets. As the assigned ministerial gift for this international gathering, one of my responsibilities was to help raise the conference budget. That’s not manipulation, it’s stewardship,” Marvin Sapp wrote on Facebook.
In the same post, he also addressed ordering the ushers to close the doors.
“My directive was not about control it was about creating a safe, focused, and reverent environment for those choosing to give, and for those handling the resources,” Sapp wrote. Swipe below to see his full previous statement.
