The John-Henry Westen Show - Christian teen bullied by rapper for refusing to say ‘F＊＊＊ Trump!’ at concert breaks silence

00:00:00.080 Hello and welcome to this episode of the John Henry Weston Show.

00:00:03.740 There is an incredible story blowing up on the internet right now.

00:00:07.240 An 18-year-old Christian young man who was publicly humiliated in a most extreme manner

00:00:13.160 at a music festival for refusing to say F-Trump on stage has come out with an incredible letter

00:00:19.760 of forgiveness.

00:00:20.920 The foul-mouthed rapper YG physically pushed the young man and cursed him, calling him

00:00:26.160 a racist and much more.

00:00:27.700 You'll want to stay tuned.

00:00:30.000 Let's begin as we always do with the sign of the cross.

00:00:50.260 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

00:00:54.220 Amen.

00:00:54.520 The readings at Mass this Sunday were about our Lord's admonition to turn the other cheek

00:01:00.860 and pray for your enemies and those who persecute you.

00:01:04.440 And there couldn't be a more fitting example than this week, that of Austin Joyner.

00:01:10.940 Austin turned 18 on October 27, 2019.

00:01:15.080 And for his birthday, he went with three friends to the two-day Malaluna Music Festival in San

00:01:21.060 Antonio, Texas.

00:01:22.400 One of the musicians playing was rapper Kenan Jackson, known as YG, who is famous for his

00:01:29.400 F-Donald Trump song.

00:01:31.500 And by the way, he uses the expletive.

00:01:33.780 So, as he was performing, YG noticed Austin, who was near the front, was not singing, so

00:01:41.960 this song of, you know, F-Trump, but so YG called him up onto stage.

00:01:47.920 YG asked him to decide right there and then to say F-Donald Trump and to say his name because,

00:01:55.120 that's the young man's name, because he knew his mother, his father, his grandmother and

00:01:59.660 grandfather were all watching.

00:02:00.860 When Austin refused to say F-Trump, YG shoved him and hurled a barrage of curses at the young

00:02:08.960 man for being a Trump supporter.

00:02:10.960 You know what?

00:02:11.700 Rather than me explaining it, why don't you have a look?

00:02:14.340 Hey, listen.

00:02:16.180 I spotted you out in the crowd. 0.95

00:02:18.120 I asked you if you f*** with Donald Trump, you said you don't know.

00:02:22.480 So, since you don't know, I need you to make up your mind tonight.

00:02:26.240 I need you to say your name.

00:02:28.160 I want you to state your name because I know your mama, your daddy, your grandmama,

00:02:31.260 your grandfather is watching.

00:02:33.140 I want you to state your name and yell out F-Donald Trump.

00:02:37.380 No, you won't. 1.00

00:02:39.120 Get his f*** out of here. 1.00

00:02:40.400 Get him out of here. 1.00

00:02:43.900 He a Donald Trump supporter. 1.00

00:02:45.380 Get his f*** out of here. 1.00

00:02:47.140 Donald Trump racist. 1.00

00:02:48.160 He don't f*** with black people. 1.00

00:02:49.240 So, if you f*** with Donald Trump, you racist as f*** and I can't f*** with you. 1.00

00:02:52.960 Period. 1.00

00:02:53.400 Straight like that.

00:02:54.180 Absolutely unbelievable.

00:03:00.060 Now, it took Austin until February 22nd, just a few days ago, to prayerfully discern how to respond.

00:03:08.860 And now he has, with the most beautiful letter, which exemplifies Christ's admonition to pray for your enemies

00:03:15.140 and to turn the other cheek, like very few things do in public today.

00:03:19.300 Austin explains in his letter that he was very nervous when he was singled out of the crowd,

00:03:25.540 but he said he felt supported by the Holy Spirit.

00:03:28.880 Here it is in his own words.

00:03:30.480 He says, and I quote,

00:03:31.300 When I got up on the stage, the Holy Spirit immediately took over.

00:03:35.100 God was on my side.

00:03:36.420 I was too nervous to handle that situation by myself.

00:03:39.380 He says,

00:04:09.380 Now get this.

00:04:28.700 He continues,

00:04:29.700 Ironically, of the three friends who were celebrating my birthday with me,

00:04:35.580 one is Hispanic, and the other two are Nigerian.

00:04:39.580 Also, my mom is Mexican, and my dad is white.

00:04:42.960 Clearly, I'm not a racist, and I never have been.

00:04:45.620 You misjudged everything about me.

00:04:48.040 I'm sticking up for myself because I have the strength of God in me.

00:04:53.000 But many people don't have that.

00:04:55.100 And just because you have a platform, that's no excuse for you to use others to make your political statements.

00:05:02.980 Absolutely amazing.

00:05:04.820 But listen to this.

00:05:05.700 The most incredible part of this letter comes as Austin addresses YG very personally.

00:05:10.980 He says, and I quote,

00:05:12.180 You put a target on my back that night and made it unsafe for me at the festival.

00:05:21.440 Thankfully, two security guards came up to me after you kicked me off stage.

00:05:25.480 They advised me to leave because they determined it was too risky for me to stay there at that point.

00:05:31.480 Now, okay, let's think about this for a second.

00:05:35.700 So there was a 17-year-old celebrating his 18th birthday with three friends at an overnight music festival,

00:05:42.860 and he was grossly, publicly humiliated, and then told to leave the event for his own safety,

00:05:49.480 spoiling his birthday, and even that, you know, that would have been for many people

00:05:56.640 a sort of life-altering negative encounter that could have led to disaster, maybe even suicide.

00:06:02.640 Yet, as the good book says,

00:06:05.120 all things work for good for those who love him.

00:06:10.460 So here's what happened next.

00:06:13.160 Austin recounted in his letter to YG, he says, and I quote,

00:06:17.560 As I drove back home, nervous and not knowing what to expect,

00:06:21.400 I still prayed for you.

00:06:22.780 Because you, Kenan, that is YG, whose name is Kenan, 0.80

00:06:28.440 because you, Kenan, still deserve and need God.

00:06:33.000 Your actions were so wrong, but can be forgiven.

00:06:37.420 Jesus did not die on that cross for no reason.

00:06:40.580 And because of that, I have kept you in many of my prayers.

00:06:45.180 So if you think no one has cared about you, I have.

00:06:50.400 End quote.

00:06:51.240 Wow.

00:06:53.480 What incredible love this young man, Austin Joyner, shows.

00:06:58.740 It's reminiscent of the line from Christ on the cross.

00:07:02.300 Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.

00:07:06.200 Austin Joyner, this heroic young man, continues in his letter as he says, and I quote,

00:07:10.360 It has taken a few months for me to fully forgive you, but I did not want to respond to the incident until I did forgive.

00:07:19.620 I forgave you on January 4th, 2020.

00:07:23.400 End quote.

00:07:23.860 Which, by the way, that's a few months after the actual incident, which happened again October 27th, 2019.

00:07:29.740 And he continues in his letter,

00:07:32.560 I really don't want to hold on to those type of feelings.

00:07:37.120 Because God created you with purpose.

00:07:40.520 Kenan Jackson has the power to do great things in this world.

00:07:43.600 And I'm speaking it into existence.

00:07:46.900 God is pursuing you.

00:07:48.560 And it's going to become obvious to you.

00:07:51.040 But God isn't going to force himself into your life.

00:07:54.000 That's something you'll have to accept if you want him. 0.93

00:07:56.840 But if you ask me, it's a strange coincidence that you picked on a supposedly racist white boy like me.

00:08:05.840 Out of all the people in the crowd that night.

00:08:09.400 And of course there he's referring to the fact that he is of Mexican heritage himself on his mom's side.

00:08:15.820 And that his friends there were one Hispanic and two Nigerians.

00:08:20.120 And Austin speaks right into the heart of YG, of Kenan Jackson, as he says, and I quote,

00:08:28.320 You have the potential to become a man who loves and cherishes his wife and children and protects them.

00:08:34.260 And treats them with utmost respect and stands up for people who are weak.

00:08:39.860 Ultimately, that's how real men behave.

00:08:43.120 I believe that you could even make the type of transition Kanye West has made.

00:08:47.520 In the end, I want you to succeed and I want you to become the man God designed you to be.

00:08:53.080 I can keep writing about how great it would be, but that is a decision you have to make for yourself.

00:09:00.500 I hope you can take advantage of the opportunity you have.

00:09:04.880 End quote.

00:09:06.920 Truly, truly amazing.

00:09:09.580 Here, the latest clip of Austin doing a little video himself responding to YG.

00:09:14.800 Have a look.

00:09:15.260 It wasn't like I was defeated or anything, but YG called me a racist in front of thousands of people.

00:09:20.800 He thinks that's something that makes him a man.

00:09:23.980 If he was a man, he wouldn't have needed to use a 17-year-old to make his political statement.

00:09:29.800 Men protect women and children.

00:09:32.440 Men protect the weak.

00:09:34.400 Men protect and men follow God.

00:09:37.240 I support Trump, but Trump is not my idol.

00:09:40.180 Jesus is, he's my king, not Trump.

00:09:42.880 I forgive YG because we've all made mistakes and YG deserves forgiveness.

00:09:47.220 God has forgiven me when I've asked for it.

00:09:49.300 There's going to be other people after me.

00:09:51.020 I want to tell those young people, have courage and stand by your opinion.

00:09:55.220 Don't follow someone else's footprints because it's your path.

00:09:59.700 It's your life.

00:10:00.620 Stand up for yourself because you're worth it and you have value.

00:10:04.000 You know, don't let someone bully you into saying something you don't want to say or believe.

00:10:07.340 Now, let me close this episode with an amazing insight that I got from Exodus 90, a 90-day

00:10:13.460 practice of fasting and asceticism I've been taking on with some friends.

00:10:16.900 Now, Jesus invites us, as we all know, to take up our crosses and follow him.

00:10:21.420 Strangely, though, he says in the scriptures, my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

00:10:25.600 But we often feel that our burden is actually quite heavy, sometimes way too heavy to bear.

00:10:31.620 So, how did poor Austin feel experiencing what he did?

00:10:34.800 How do we feel when we get into a car accident or, even worse, are ridiculed by our own spouses

00:10:40.140 or colleagues at work or sometimes even children?

00:10:43.340 There seems to be nothing easy or light about these crosses or burdens that we are asked to

00:10:48.700 bear sometimes.

00:10:49.820 And yet we're told that the saints would rejoice in adversity and hardship.

00:10:56.020 Rejoice?

00:10:56.680 How is that even possible?

00:10:57.920 We know the line, offer it up, which, you know, we should do as a means of offering up

00:11:04.940 our sacrifices and sufferings in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the sacrifice

00:11:08.680 of Christ at Calvary.

00:11:10.460 But still, how do we get to that joy of rejoicing in such hardships?

00:11:16.420 Well, here's the insight from Exodus 90, which really made things clearer for me than they

00:11:21.920 ever have been before.

00:11:22.960 I want you to picture yourself sitting on a city bench in the bitter, bitter cold, waiting

00:11:28.680 for a bus, which is like 25 minutes late.

00:11:31.820 It's freezing cold and even snowing, and you get more and more miserable by the second.

00:11:40.180 Now, I want you to imagine that instead of that city bench, you're sitting on a very similar

00:11:47.660 bench.

00:11:48.120 It's cold and snowing.

00:11:50.380 In fact, the same temperature, the same snow as it was on that city bench, only this time

00:11:54.400 the bench is suspended from a cable and moving up towards the top of a mountain.

00:11:59.620 You aren't aggravated or cynical about it.

00:12:02.820 The cold and the snow, instead, you're stoked and overflowing with joy.

00:12:07.520 In fact, you paid good money to be out in these elements because these seemingly adverse

00:12:11.960 things, bitter cold and uncomfortable bench and the dumping snow, will gain for you the

00:12:16.760 chance to be waist-deep in a powdery snow day on a hill.

00:12:20.960 And as a skier, you possess the eyes to see the value of that cold, of that snow, and that

00:12:28.840 hard bench you're riding up on.

00:12:31.280 Thus, even the bitter cold is sweet.

00:12:35.160 And there it is.

00:12:36.800 There is the key to seeing your sufferings as an awesome opportunity to offer something

00:12:41.760 worthy to the Lord in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

00:12:45.020 Our sufferings that we're given are a gift to the Eternal Father, if we're willing to

00:12:50.360 take them as such.

00:12:51.040 And with those eyes, with that seeing, those sufferings become indeed joys.

00:12:56.460 We have the opportunity to give a gift to the Eternal Father that's worth suffering for.

00:13:00.940 Let us really try to see in all of our adversities which the Lord permits us, to see in them something

00:13:12.380 worthy to offer up to our Lord, to assist Him in a small way in the salvation of the world,

00:13:17.280 to make a worthy gift to our Savior, to accept a small share of that suffering which He endured

00:13:23.180 so that we might be co-redeemers with Him and can repeat with St. Paul,

00:13:27.140 I make up in my own body that which is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

00:13:32.900 What lack is there in Christ's sufferings?

00:13:35.600 Only that which He intentionally left for us to do so that we could reign with Him in glory forever.

00:13:43.860 Let's do good to our enemies and pray for those who persecute us just like Austin Joyner did this week.

00:13:49.760 Until next time, may God bless you.

00:13:55.780 Hello, this is John Henry Weston.

00:13:57.700 I'd like to invite you to subscribe to the John Henry Weston Show YouTube channel if you haven't already done so.

00:14:03.940 There you will find all the past episodes and much more.

00:14:07.380 Thanks again for watching, and may God bless you.

00:14:19.760 Thanks again for watching, and may God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show - February 25, 2020

Christian teen bullied by rapper for refusing to say ‘F＊＊＊ Trump!’ at concert breaks silence

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