Earlier this year, Kanye West’s plans to take his Sunday Service Choir show on tour made headlines but the latest news may prove to be controversial for the beleaguered producer. NY Daily News reports that West is set to headline Awaken 2020, a 10-hour prayer revival in Arizona, alongside a list of notorious anti-LGBTQ evangelists. Awaken 2020 bills itself as an opportunity to “open the door and enter into a new era, a new decade, of revival that is bringing a movement of signs and wonders, healing of the sick, and preaching of the gospel.”
However, the list of speakers includes names like Ché Ahn, who once compared the movement for equal marriage rights to racist laws, saying, “Just because it’s legal does not mean that it’s right;. At one time, we had a law saying Blacks were not citizens, that didn’t make that right.” Another speaker is Cindy Jacobs, who called the passage of the Equality Act provocation for civil war. There’s also ardent Trump supporter Guillermo Maldonado, whose church Reuters says may be violating IRS laws by holding rallies on church property on behalf of Trump and encouraging parishioners to attend. Religious organizations are banned from campaigning on behalf of any political candidates due to their tax exempt status.
Kanye likely won’t let that stop him from attending; on his 2019 album Jesus Is King, he shouts out Chik-Fil-A on the song “Closed On Sunday” despite the restaurant chain coming under fire for apparently donating to anti-LGBTQ charities in the past.
