Key Takeaways
- Kirk Franklin told Kandi Burruss on Speak On It that he has largely avoided soul food, fried food, fast food, and soda for 25 years—and has never tried a lemon pepper wing.
- Franklin acknowledged occasional cheat days with hamburgers and fries, saying he eats fries maybe twice a year and describing himself as “an extreme personality.”
- The gospel innovator also recently named Andraé Crouch, Thomas Whitfield, John P. Kee, and Walter Hawkins as his gospel Mount Rushmore and described his studio as a tribute to Michael Jackson.
Kirk Franklin has spent 30 years shaking up gospel music, but apparently none of that rule-breaking extends to his diet.
During a wide-ranging appearance on Kandi Burruss’ Speak On It podcast, the 56-year-old revealed that he has largely avoided fried food, soul food, fast food, and soda for roughly a quarter-century—even if the occasional order of fries still slips through.
“I haven’t had fried food or soda or fast food in about 25 years,” Franklin told Burruss. When she pressed him about soul food, he doubled down: “I haven’t had soul food. Fried food or soul food in about 25 years.”
Burruss admitted that she could eliminate those foods for months at a time, but not permanently—especially if lemon pepper wings were involved. Franklin’s response stunned her again: “I don’t think I’ve ever had a lemon pepper chicken wing.”
Franklin jokingly asked viewers not to revoke his “Black card,” but his eating habits are part of a broader discipline he said has helped redefine what turning 50 can look like. The gospel star acknowledged that he still has cheat days built around what he called “foolishness,” including hamburgers and fries.
Even then, the exceptions are limited. “French fries, I may do French fries,” he said. “I may have that maybe twice a year.”
The strict approach tracks with how Franklin describes his personality. “I’m an extreme personality,” he told Burruss, later referencing his OCD and ADHD diagnoses.
That intensity has shaped far more than his food choices. Since his 1990s breakthrough with Kirk Franklin and the Family, he has built a career around pushing gospel into spaces once considered off-limits, merging choir arrangements with hip-hop rhythms, R&B hooks, and pop-scale production. Songs such as “Stomp,” “Revolution,” and “Imagine Me” helped turn him into one of the genre’s most recognizable crossover figures.
Franklin recently offered another glimpse into the influences behind that sound when he named Andraé Crouch, Thomas Whitfield, John P. Kee, and Walter Hawkins as his personal Mount Rushmore of gospel music.
He also revealed the enormous role Michael Jackson continues to play in his creative life. “Everything in my studio is Michael Jackson,” Franklin told Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson. “My whole studio upstairs, it’s just a tribute to Michael.”
Crouch, one of Franklin’s four gospel picks, also worked with Jackson on choir-driven records including “Keep the Faith,” “Will You Be There,” and “Man in the Mirror.”
