Boone Will Get Opportunity to Speak on Religious Network

The Trinity Broadcasting Network, which pulled Pat Boone’s half-hour “Gospel America” program indefinitely after the singer sauntered onto the American Music Awards show bare-chested with dark sunglasses and fake tattoos, announced Thursday that Boone and his pastor will appear on the network’s “Praise” program.

A spokesman for the Tustin-based network said Boone, who appeared in the heavy metal outfit for the awards show broadcast from Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium, will get a chance to address his audience on April 15 and explain his motivation in shifting the traditional and gospel nature of his musical ministry.

Boone, known for the fresh-scrubbed look that made him a pop idol in the 1950s, wore the regalia to promote his new album, “In a Metal Mood/No More Mr. Nice Guy.”

He compared the anger from his traditional fans to the reaction some heavy metal fans had previously expressed toward him.

“That nauseous reaction was not to my music but to my lifestyle, that I think that I’m somehow better or holier than them and I was an indictment of who they are,” Boone said in an interview Thursday.