R&B star Tank slams homophobia in the Black community & 'gay agenda'

R&B icon Tank sat down for a candid conversation about homophobia and spirituality on the latest episode of the Holdin Court podcast.

The 48-year-old singer has long been a vocal LGBTQ+ ally in an industry that has often been hostile to queer people over his 30-year career, and he shared his feelings on how he dispelled his own homophobia with Big Court and his daughter/co-host Rachel Renee.

"There's something about Black men and the homosexual conversation that is a mess," the singer began in a clip posted on YouTube. "The phobia as it relates to Black men is the elephant in the room. No one will actually articulate their devastation. You have to think, for a Black man the worst thing to be called is gay. The first thing somebody's gonna allude to whether you are gay or not, when they're trying to assassinate your character or get off the highest joke imaginable, they're going gay first."

He went on, "Something within our culture has created this stigma that that is the... Somehow there's a program to make Black men gay. There's an attack on strong Black men. But who's the attack coming from?"

Big Court echoed some people's belief that this "agenda" is coming "Through media, through fashion, through what's acceptable.

But Renee brings up artists like Prince and Rick James. What made them masculine at the height of their popularity?

"That was in the context of entertainment, it's showmanship," Big Court reflected. "Whereas we didn't see anyone like that in real life. We only saw people on TV who looked like that. It's so funny because my gaydar is so messed up because I wasn't exposed."

Tank agreed. "That meant you were in, it didn't mean you were gay." Entertainers back then "celebrated that! We owned it! It wasn't an attack or an assassination on anything. That's where some of our heroes come from. So where does this agenda come from?"

He then dispelled the supposed "gay agenda" argument perfectly. "I've never seen anything that made me say, 'Oh wow, I wanna be gay. I'm inspired to be gay because I saw that outfit.'"

Tank went on to talk about his upbringing in the church. "I understand the phobia because I grew up in it and I had to face it in being in this business. I was raised that gay was an abomination. Not just a sin, but the worst." But, Tank said, once he "started living life outside of that book, I started accepting the fact that one way is not the only way."

And no, it doesn't conflict with his beliefs. "I was given a faith. But my calling is bigger than the structure of said religion. I serve the God of all things, not one thing."

The trio went on to talk about the discomfort of being hit on as attractive Black men, how to react, and the double standard of bisexuality between men and women.

Watch the full discussion below.