Christian singer booted from ‘Ellen’ for preaching against homosexuality
Ellen Degeneres has cancelled a scheduled
appearance on her talk show by Gospel singer Kim Burrell, after a video of the
singer preaching against homosexuality last week was posted online,
provoking a backlash.
In the sermon, delivered at the Houston church
Burrell founded, the singer warned against homosexual behavior.
"Anybody in the room who is living with a
homosexual spirit, beg God to free you. If you play with it in 2017, you'll die
from it,” Burrell stated. “If you play with it in 2017 in God's house, you'll
die from it. Y'all came to hear about carnal, I came to tell you about
sin."
“That perverted homosexual spirit is the
spirit of delusion and confusion, and has deceived many men and women,” she
said. “And it’s caused a stain on the Body of Christ.”
She also listed specific homosexual acts and
said acting upon them was perverted.
Burrell went on to criticize homosexuality in
the church, citing Georgia megachurch Pastor Eddie Long, who has been accused of
sexually abusing male members of his church, and Andrew Caldwell, who became an
Internet phenomenon after a 2014 video of
him declaring that he’d been delivered from homosexuality went viral.
The clip with this part of Burrell’s sermon
was posted on YouTube with the title “Kim Burrell bashes homosexuals; implies
they will die in 2017,” getting more
than a half-million views by Monday and those numbers approaching one million
at press time.
The following day, Burrell released a video message
on Facebook live in which she stood by the message in her sermon, saying she
came online to respond to the backlash because she cared about God’s creation.
“I never said LGBT last night,” she stated. “I
said S-I-N.”
Burrell pointed out that the focus was on
selective portions of her sermon given at Love & Liberty Fellowship
Pentecostal Overcoming Holy Church, saying this was the design of “the enemy”
to make it look like she has a personal agenda against people.
“We’re not in a war against flesh and blood,”
Burrell explained.
“To every person that is dealing with the
homosexual spirit that has it — I love you because God loves you,” she
emphasized. “But God hates the sin in you and me, anything that is against the
nature of God. I’m called to do what God called me to do and that’s it.”
She also clarified in the video she was
addressing people who operate with that spirit in the church with deception.
Nevertheless, the repercussions continued.
Burrell was supposed to sing “I See A Victory”
Thursday on Degeneres’ show with music artist Pharrell Williams from the
soundtrack of the new Hidden
Figures movie.
But DeGeneres, who is openly gay and was
presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November by Barack Obama
for her influence on gay rights, announced Tuesday on Twitter that Burrell had
been bumped, tweeting,
“For those asking, Kim Burrell will not be appearing on my show.”
An online petition asking Williams and
DeGeneres to cancel Burrell’s appearance was signed more than 6,000 times.
Williams himself responded, though not naming
Burrell, posting on Instagram, “I condemn hate speech of any kind.”
“There is no room in this world for any kind
of prejudice,” he went on. “My greatest hope is for inclusion and love for all
humanity in 2017 and beyond.”
Singer and actress Janelle Monáe, who stars in
the “Hidden Figures” film, was set to appear on DeGeneres’ show with Burrell
and Williams.
She shared Williams’ post, stating,
“My advice: If your religion is causing you to spew out words of hate, judge,
or look down on others because of who one loves then you need to change it.”
Actress Octavia Spencer, another star of the
film, shared Williams’ post as well, writing, “I agree. We are all God's
children equal in his eyes. Hatred isn't the answer. Intolerance isn't the
answer.”
A number of other music artists, celebrities
and a Black Lives Matter activist criticized her on social media.
Katonya Breaux, the mother of rapper Frank
Ocean, with whom Burrell sang on his latest album, tweeted,
“Me: Son, can we crop Kim Burrells voice out of your song??”
One improbable supporter defended Burrell amid
the backlash and shared his personal experience that conflicts with the current
social media narrative.
“Kim Burrell loves people,” O’Rhonde Chapman
said. “She supported me, embraced me, encouraged me and inspired me to be all
that I have become today.”
Chapman credits her with helping to change his
life after Burrell encountered him eight years ago as a homeless former Houston
high school student who struggled for acceptance while being transgender.
Burrell welcomed Chapman with open arms at her church and pushed him to pursue
his dream of attending design school and starting his own fashion line.
“I was openly gay at the time,” he said in a
KHOU11 report.
“So (Burrell) embraced me. She didn’t shun me. She didn’t have hatred towards
me. She treated me in a way that I was supposed to be treated.”
He first cringed when he saw the sermon clip,
but he wishes Burrell was being judged by more than that, and was compelled to
speak up after her “Ellen” appearance was cancelled.
Chapman said, “Even hearing that snippet, I
still know that her heart for people to do right and her heart after making
sure that God’s mission was completed was every bit of pure no matter how it’s
being received.”
