Meagan Good Recalls BET Not Letting Her Present An Award After She Refused To Joke About Backlash Over Revealing Dress: Would You Do This To Gabrielle Union Or Taraji?

Meagan Good Recalls BET Not Letting Her Present An Award After She Refused To Joke About Backlash Over Revealing Dress: Would You Do This To Gabrielle Union Or Taraji?

Meagan Good has been open about the backlash she’s received from the Christian community for her wardrobe choices.

Now, in a new interview with The Daily Beast, she revealed that BET once booted her from presenting an award after she didn’t want to joke about the criticism she received for a revealing blue dress.

She said the issues first started when she wore a plunging blue dress at the BET Awards in 2013, roughly a year after marrying her husband Devon Franklin, who’s a pastor.

“The blue dress that I wore, and at the eleventh hour when they switched me from giving out a rap award to giving out a gospel award. And then I got home and saw that I was trending on Twitter with all these Christians just dragging me. I was like, ‘This is horribly painful because it’s the one community that’s supposed to be the safe community, and that represents the core of my identity, that’s attacking me.'”

Meagan Good continued:

“It was a full-on assault, and it went on for years—when I got dressed up for Halloween, or for any event. I never stopped being who I was, but I definitely had the trauma of ‘I know I’m going out in front of the firing squad.’ I’m never going to stop having control over who I am if I feel I’m right with God, but I hate that I feel I’m bracing myself for impact.”

She added that things continued the following year when she refused to joke about the backlash she received over the dress.

“The next year for the BET Awards, they reached out to have me present, and the script was me and Nick Cannon, and he was going, ‘Hey Meagan, I see that you wore a different dress this year—a lot more covered up!’ and I’m like, ‘Ha-ha-ha!’ I called them and said, ‘I don’t feel like this is funny. For one, that was not a funny experience—it was traumatizing—and two, I’m not going to go up there and act like I’m apologizing to someone when I have nothing to apologize for.’ Their response was: ‘You either say it or you don’t present.'”

Meagan Good

She said she refused to present, and questioned if other actresses would’ve received the same treatment.

 “I was like, ‘OK, then I won’t present.’ And when I got off the phone, I cried. I was like, ‘Would you do this to Gabrielle Union or Taraji [P. Henson]? You have this perception of me, and it’s crazy that you want to hold me to what that should be.’ I’m not going for it. No one will ever control what I do or how I do it; it will always be spirit-led, and how I feel God feels about it. It took me a long time to not feel so hurt and be so affected.

Devon Franklin went viral in 2016 for defending his wife’s wardrobe choices after a woman told her to “cover up” while at a church event.

What are your thoughts on Meagan Good’s experience? Comment and let us know.