Gospel singer Kim Burrell defended her headline-making homophobic comments in a pair of Facebook Live videos on Friday, December 30.
"I never said 'LGBT' in the sermon. I said 'S-I-N,'" Burrell, 44, explained of the controversial remarks she recently made at her Houston church. "I know that people are going to be mad. … To every person that is dealing with the homosexual spirit, that has it, I love you because God loves you. 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, and I do it with passion. … I make no excuses or apologies."
In a second video, the singer added, "I never said that all gays were going to hell. That never came out of my mouth. … I said people who operate with that spirit in the church with deception and attack themselves are going to have to face the master."
Burrell came under fire last week after a video surfaced of her antigay sermon at the Love & Liberty Fellowship Church, where she said, "That perverted homosexual spirit, and the spirit of delusion and confusion, it has deceived many men and women. … It has come into our church and it has embarrassed the kingdom of God." The video immediately went viral and outraged many social media users.
The video emerged days before Burrell's scheduled appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She was set to perform a song from the Hidden Figures soundtrack with Pharrell Williams on the Thursday, January 5, episode, but Ellen DeGeneres tweeted on Tuesday, January 3: "For those asking, Kim Burrell will not be appearing on my show."
Williams, meanwhile, appeared to address Burrell's comments on Instagram on Saturday, December 31, writing, "I condemn hate speech of any kind. There is no room in this world for any kind of prejudice. My greatest hope is for inclusion and love for all humanity in 2017 and beyond."
