“We alerted every member of our organization prior to it coming out,” Gyamfi said, “because this was a huge moment for us.”
“This is the first time Maverick City would ever have made a statement about conduct, ever in our existence,” he explained, “and this wasn’t the first thing that happened that people had made noise about, but it was the first thing that happened that we had visible proof.”
“Admittedly, I was sent what happened, right?” Gyamfi acknowledged. “And so there was no—there was no way around it. Most artists had seen it, and it was something that needed to be addressed.”
“Whether or not we are worship pastors, or whether we do pastor people, we are still Christians, and we have a platform, and we have to steward those platforms with respect, dignity, and in accordance to our beliefs,” said Gyamfi.
Gyamfi said that whether or not Bowe had posted the photo on accident was “irrelevant to us.” What was relevant was that Gyamfi was getting messages from mothers saying their 8-year-old daughters had seen it.
Gyamfi said Maverick City leadership’s intent was to walk with Bowe and get him accountability out of love for him. “Even if it wasn’t intended, whatever the intent was, [the photo]…could have caused someone to stumble,” he said. “It was saw by people completely inappropriately. And there’s consequences for even unintentional things. And that’s what this was for us.”
Ruslan wanted to know what Bowe’s explanation for posting the photo was. “He said it was a progress photo,” said Gyamfi. “It was a progress photo from him, like he was working out. He was getting more fit.”
“I thought it was he was high or something like that,” said Ruslan, who then asked, “Was it full frontal,” or was it like Carl Lentz’s beach photo with Justin Bieber?
“Full frontal, man,” said Jay. “That’s one hell of a progress photo,” Ruslan responded.
A year after the “pause” that became a split, Business Insider asked Bowe if he were still in contact with anyone at MCM. Bowe replied, “No. I’m completely on a different level. I’m working with different people. We have different teams now and I still wish them well, but we don’t talk at all. No.”
“If we could go back and we could get more prepared, we would be more prepared for the fact that…people look at us like a church,” said Gyamfi. “They’re looking at these songs as their Scripture for the day. They’re looking at the people singing these songs and their lives as, ‘Oh, that’s how I need to live my life.’ And just as ignorant as it could sound…We didn’t know.”
EJ Gaines responded to request for comment on whether Maverick City Music has any current relationship with Dante Bowe, saying, “He is a brother in Christ and we have a relationship with him. The upcoming episode of Mavericks on the Mic will feature him tomorrow (see trailer here: https://www.tiktok.com/@
