Gerard Henry, host of “Lift Every Voice,” a hip and trendy gospel video program, has left the Sunday afternoon show after its owners at BET announced a change in format.
Henry officially left the African-American network, located in Washington, last year after it was apparent that the cable station was moving in a new direction with the show, he said yesterday.
Henry started with Lift Every Voice — which was seen as a youthful companion to the popular Bobby Jones Gospel Show — nine years ago.
In an interview from Atlanta, Henry said, ”Bascially they wanted to go in a different direction and part of that is going with a new host. The show is going to have a different format and go in a different direction. I stopped taping shows last fall.”
Henry officially announced his departure a few weeks ago. However, reruns of the show still air on BET on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. BET officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.
“They have a host and have done some tapings. I don’t know when the new shows will begin. They have my well wishes,” says the 36-year-old. “I wanted to be a part of discussing the change and how it will flow but I wasn’t given that opportunity.”
Henry said he left the station on good terms and that he and BET might do something in the future. The BET.com site still markest Henry as the shows host. As of yesterday, the site did not note any upcoming changes to the show.
“The audience we built over the last nine years will have to adjust,” he said. “The new format will mean an adjustment. For those not comfortable with the adjustment don’t worry. I’m not done with television yet.”
Henry has a few opportunities on the horizon, including public speaking engagements and launching a new Web site. He’s currently host of a gospel and politics talks show called “GTALK” airing from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday on Heaven1580 AM, a Washington radio station. Click here.
Henry also has several projects that will incorporate reaching a youthful audience through inspirational text messaging. For more information about this project and others, call 1here.1.800.797.6677.
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