Never woulda made it!

Welcome to The Janitor’s Closet—where we don’t just talk about the mess, we deep clean the internet’s biggest stories. From viral chaos to culture-shifting moments, we break it all down with zero fluff, all facts, and just the right amount of side-eye.

Not the spiritual paywalls…

Marvin Sapp was really locked in. Oh you ain’t know? Marvin Sapp told the ushers to lock the doors and asked the congregation to pledge $20 each, with everyone on stage expected to cough up $100—because, in his words, “it costs to be up here.” Cue the collective internet meltdown. Some called it bold.

Others called it manipulative. But once the memes settled, a bigger question lingered: why is it so controversial when churches ask for money but not when other entities do? 

How did we get here?

Here’s where things get murky. Faith is supposed to be free. Accessible. And from the heart. At least that’s what some of us are told. It’s normally promoted as something you come to on your own terms, not necessarily something you swipe your debit card for.

So, when Marvin closed the doors and started assigning price tags to presence—$20 for the crowd, $100 for the crew—for second it stops feeling like church and starts sounding a lot like a TED Talk with a cover charge.

People probably don’t wanna feel like the customer who got away for free when they go to church.

They probably wanna worship and praise, mingle with some church folk, and grad some mac and cheese and lemonade when the service is done.

But in the age of viral clips, Marvin made tithing feel like a “do this or else.” Treating Sunday service like a spiritual paywall. And that’s not what the people sign up for.

Modern culture has a short fuse. And everyday it gets thinner and thinner. One day it’s jokes. The next day it’s a drag on the timeline. So, when stuff like this happens—religion, money, entitlement—you’re guaranteed a messy split.

One side gets their wallet out, while the other side lets the preacher have it because they feel like religion is a social construct.

So who made the bigger mess?

Is Marvin to blame? Maybe? And honestly, it’s tough not to consider how forced it all felt. The calm confidence. The sassy undertone. It felt like he was trying to make a statement, until it turned into a moment he wasn’t prepared for.

But is social media to blame?

Now to be fair, the backlash has been a little interesting. A lot of timeline bullies have been saying he needs to go to jail for kidnapping. And if we’re being real there’s been a lot of engagement farming going on. It’s been over a month and the jokes are still rolling in. From big content creators to smaller ones.

The reality of the situation is this…

Today’s culture doesn’t just care about what was said—they care about how you said it, who you said it to, and whether it felt real. So, once you get labeled tone-deaf or exploitative, you’re already halfway canceled. And unfortunately for some, pastors aren’t excluded.

What do you think?

How do you feel about the Marvin Sapp situation?

• It's absolutely ridiculous, locking the doors is crazy 😞

• Honestly, social media is blowing it out of proportion 🤷‍♂️

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