Pulling the plug. Gospel singer Kim Burrell’s radio show, “Bridging the Gap With Kim Burrell,” was canceled following a viral video of her delivering a homophobic sermon at her Houston church, Texas Southern University confirmed in a statement Thursday, January 5.
“The Kim Burrell show is no longer airing as part of KTSU Radio programming,” the university said in the statement. Burrell, 44, previously hosted a weekly radio show with the university.
Texas Southern University’s decision to drop Burrell comes hot on the heels of Ellen DeGeneres’ decision to cancel the singer’s appearance on her Thursday, January 5, show, sparked by disparaging, anti-LGBT comments Burrell made in December.
In her sermon, Burrell told her congregation at the Love & Liberty Fellowship Church, “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.”
Video of the controversial sermon circulated online toward the end of last year, and Burrell made two Facebook Live videos to defend her headline-making comments. “I never said ‘LGBT’ last night. I said ‘S-I-N,’” she said. “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.”
During her show on Thursday, DeGeneres, 58, addressed the issue and Burrell’s absence head-on. “I actually didn't know her, her name is Kim Burrell. She made a statement, she was doing a Facebook Live and she said some very not nice things about homosexuals, so I didn’t feel that was good of me to have her on the show, to give her a platform after she was saying things about me,” the talk show host explained.
Pharrell Williams, who collaborated with Burrell for the song “I See a Victory” from the Hidden Figures soundtrack, did appear on DeGeneres’ show, and on it, he denounced Burrell’s words.
“There’s no space, there’s no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017 and moving on,” the former Voice coach said. “There’s no room. She’s a fantastic singer, I love her, just like I love everybody else, and we all got to get used to that. … We all have to get used to everyone’s differences and understand that this is a big, gigantic, beautiful, colorful world, and it only works with inclusion and empathy. It only works that way.”
