A week after the 56th annual Dove Awards in Nashville, musicians and fans are still buzzing about electronic artist Forrest Frank’s decision to boycott the ceremony.
Frank was not at the Bridgestone Arena last Tuesday to receive Dove’s Artist of the Year award. A few days before, he announced on social media that he didn’t feel right getting an award for simply engaging in worship.
“I will not receive a trophy for something that is from Jesus and for Jesus,” he said in a video posted on Instagram, “I feel a conviction to go even a step further and say, ‘I don’t know if I even want to step on the stage; I don’t know if I want to step in the room.
“I have decided to take a stance of non-participation. I will not be attending the Doves or the Grammys.”
Ironically, the only way Frank won Artist of The Year was through personally submitting his music to the Gospel Music Association. Numerous people noted that incongruity on Instagram.
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In October 2024, Forrest Frank performs at the 55th Annual GMA Dove Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. (Courtesy Photo)
Frank’s stance made national headlines when it was featured Friday in People Magazine. It also caused a ripple of discomfort across Nashville. Artists like Mike Donehey of Tenth Avenue North, Dan Bremnes, and Austin Cain all posted responses on their social media channels, saying they didn’t attend the Dove Awards for notoriety, but to celebrate their friends and support artists.
Mainstream rapper Jelly Roll (aka Jason Bradley Deford) asked why Frank was willing to still receive profits from his craft.
On Oct. 7, 2025, Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll perform the GMA Dove Awards at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo: Instagram)
“I love that you said, ‘I don’t want to get a trophy for something that’s from Jesus for Jesus’ which is awesome – but also make MILLIONS of dollars doing that same thing that is From Jesus for Jesus,” Jelly Roll said.
Frank has been a bit of an outlier in the industry ever since he fractured two back vertebrae in July and wrote a song about it called “Lemonade.”
After many prayers were posted for Frank, he said his back was healed, but not before rocker Crowder, country singer Cory Asbury and Matthew West made follow-up jokes about their own injuries online. In August, Crowder announced that he broke his left leg, apparently while grilling meat, and had emergency surgery. He posted about the incident online and tongue-in-cheek thanked Frank for his prayers.
West joined the shenanigans after he received a bee sting on his left finger, releasing the now-deleted song “Honey.” Asbury then took it a step further, and made a video about his recent vasectomy.
Frank responded with another video, saying he took offense to Asbury’s joke. West and Asbury removed their posts and apologized to Frank online. Frank and Asbury later collaborated on a song “Misunderstood.”
Frank’s boycott was on the minds of some at the Dove Awards and host and artist Tauren Wells seemed to clearly address Frank’s concerns about trophies.
“Without Jesus we have no songs to sing. Without Jesus we have no stories to tell. We have no scripts to write, no books. We have no platforms. We have no Instagram followers. We have no subscribers. We have nothing to celebrate if it had not been for the Lord who is on your side,” he said.
“But because of Jesus, we have everything to celebrate . . . It is not about us. It’s not about our songs or our creativity; it’s about Jesus’ songs and about Jesus’ story.”
On Oct. 7, 2025, CeCe Winans performs the GMA Dove Awards at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo: Facebook)
When gospel great CeCe Winans accepted the award for Gospel Song of the Year, she backed Wells up in responding to Frank’s concerns.
“Like Tauren said earlier, we don’t do what we do for this (award), we do what we do for Jesus,” she said.
“We get a chance to worship all over the world and do what we do. We have an awesome responsibility to bring as many people as we can when Jesus returns . . . Let’s remember why we do what we do so God would be glorified and so that as many souls as possible would come to know who Jesus is.”
Thousands of artists and guests were in the arena for the event, hosted by the Gospel Music Association. It has been a rough year for the industry, which has grappled with the fallout of sexual assault allegations against former Newsboys frontman Michael Tait and subsequently a lost record deal for the band.
The big winner at the Dove Awards was Brandon Lake, who took home five awards. He was performing his award-winning song “Hard Fought Hallelujah” with Jelly Roll when water — or rain in the indoor arena — began pouring down on the stage on the men and their band.
They continued performing anyway, which galvanized the audience.
On Oct. 7, 2025, Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll perform the GMA Dove Awards at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo: Facebook)
Jessica Morris is a music journalist, podcaster and author based in Melbourne, Australia.