Christian singer Cory Asbury has taken down a shirtless picture of himself after receiving criticism that it lacked modesty and could be a stumbling block for others.
In an apology video posted on Instagram Thursday, Asbury addressed the controversy surrounding a photo he shared of himself posing beside fellow Christian musician Forrest Frank and a friend named Tony.
“Honestly, I didn’t think much of it,” he said. “My heart was just to share highlights of the culture that we were [experiencing] on the road. … It was about mind, body, soul, health. So we were working out a lot, and one of those days, we were just looking at the progress and going, ‘Man … we’ve come a long way.’”
“There was no intention for anyone to stumble or be a block of offense at all,” he added. “I guess there was a little controversy over that on the internet.”
The three men agreed to take the picture down because “that doesn’t need to live on the internet as a thing of offense that could possibly be a stumbling block.”
“I realize a lot of different people share a lot of different opinions on modesty, and maybe one day we’ll weigh in on that, but for now, we just want to go ahead and take that down,” he added.
Asbury also clarified that he was the one who posted the picture, not Frank. “I posted that photo,” he said. “It was from my account, so lay off my boy.”
“I just want to humbly, before everyone, say ‘I’m sorry,’” Asbury said, stressing that he “didn’t want it to be a thing” and “didn’t want it to offend anyone at all.
"It’s down. It’s gone. Push on toward the end goal of loving Jesus with humility.”
The picture Asbury posted was one of several images included as part of a recap of his tour with Frank and other Christian artists called “The Jesus Generation Tour.”
The tour, which was designed to provide “a powerful night of music, worship and community,” consisted of stops in 29 cities with Frank as the headliner. All stops on the tour featured the Figs greeting fans as they arrived, Asbury leading worship and Christian musician Tori Kelly introducing Frank.
The Jesus Generation Tour kicked off on June 1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and concluded on Aug. 1 in Arlington, Texas. It included stops in 22 states.
