Ellen DeGeneres cancels appearance of singer who made homophobic remarks
Ellen DeGeneres has canceled a planned appearance on her show by gospel singer Kim Burrell after video surfaced of Burrell making hateful comments about homosexuals.
In a tweet posted Wednesday afternoon, DeGeneres simply confirmed the cancellation of Burrell's appearance without noting the controversy.
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Video of Burrell making her comments during an undated sermon at the Love & Liberty Fellowship church in Houston hit YouTube just before New Years, with the singer saying, "the perverted homosexual spirit is the spirit of delusion and confusion and has deceived many men and women."
She hit on the word "perverted" in reference to the LGBTQ community a few more times in the video.
Burrell has attempted to defend her remarks, saying in a now-deleted Facebook Live broadcast, "I never said all gays were going to hell. I never said 'LGBT'... I said 'SIN'."
She added, according to the BBC:
"To every person who is dealing with the homosexual spirit, that has it, I love you and God loves you but God hates the sin in you and me. Anything that is against the nature of God. I make no excuses or apologies. My love is as pure as it comes."
An archived version of her Facebook Live can be viewed here.
According to Jezebel, Burrell was scheduled to sing a song from the Hidden Figures soundtrack with Pharrell Williams on DeGeneres' show. Williams will now reportedly perform solo.
Williams addressed the issue in a post on Instagram, saying "I condemn hate speech of any kind."
Janelle Monae, who is also scheduled to be on the episode and has a role in Hidden Figures, shared Williams' post with her own extended comment, saying, "I will rejoice when folks stop thinking they ARE GOD, Jesus' assistant, picking and choosing what 'sins' are acceptable in the Bible, and using the Bible as a whip! WE can't afford anymore tearing down of our shared humanity."
Topics Ellen DeGeneres
Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
