Kim Burrell, the controversial gospel singer, said Thursday that Jamie Foxx defended her after she was banned from The Ellen DeGeneres Show after a clip of her giving a homophobic sermon resurfaced.
On a recent episode of Tamron Hall, the recording artist answered a Daily Presenter’s question about a religious speech she made in 2016, in which she said a statement along the lines of “perverted homosexual spirit.”
“No one has ever interviewed me about what it is I’m offended by and why should it matter. A reaction from a community that says, ‘we’re extreme on love,’ didn’t respond in love, in thinking that I was being deliberate to hurt. Truth hurts. I was standing there preaching what I know is the truth,” Burrell stated, claiming that people shot at her car (she didn’t make a police report) and that her home was surveyed by helicopters after the statements were made.
“I have to stand on the truth, no matter what. I can be criticized for it, I can be so-called ‘canceled’ for it, no one has reported that my friend Jamie Foxx felt the need to call Ellen and say, ‘You got this one wrong. She has been more to our community than what the world is willing to see, and we don’t think that the extreme of canceling her from a show was a proper response compared to what she’s done for our community.’”
Furthermore, Burrell berated fellow singer Yolanda Adams for her response to the sermon, which she called an “unwarranted” attack.
“I was disappointed because we’ve all shared the same stage, back rooms, and green rooms, and some of their public display in conversation is somewhat opposite of what it is behind stage,” Burrell added.
“I would’ve much preferred, especially dealing with the gospel, Yolanda Adams, we’re both from Houston, Texas, to pick up the cellphone and say, ‘Het, I have a career to save, and I can’t agree with your stance right now, I need to say something different to my public.’ I would’ve preferred that.”
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Burrell Controversies
When the sermon video resurfaced in 2016, DeGeneres criticized Burrell, calling Burrell’s words “not nice” and announcing her final decision to drop her scheduled talk show appearance.
“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,” DeGeneres stated on her show, interviewing Pharrell Williams instead. (Williams is Burrell’s musical collaborator on the soundtrack for Hidden Figures in 2016).
“There’s no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017, and moving on. There’s no room,” Williams shared with DeGeneres, despite that, he still called Burrell a “fantastic singer.”
Apart from her successful career in the gospel act industry, Burrell has teamed up with several pop acts over the past few years, like Harry Connick Jr. on “I Pray on Christmas” in 2003, Mariah Carey on 2008’s “I Understand” from Randy Jackson’s Music Club: Volume One album, “Goodspeed” by Frank Ocean in 2016, and Jay-Z’s “4:44” in 2017.
In July, Burrell drew another backlash after another clip of her at the Kingdom City Church went viral. The video showed her appear to have encouraged parishioners to talk to people to ensure they’re not “broke” ahead of letting them into their lives.
Furthermore, she called people “ugly” and straight out expressed her opposition to COVID vaccines.
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Photo: Meredith Corp
