August 17, 2017
Watch: Gospel Singer Kim Burrell Opens Up About Backlash for Anti-Gay Sermon
READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Earlier this year, gospel singer Kim Burrell faced a huge backlash after a sermon she delivered at a Houston church, where she said gay people are perverted, went viral. After refusing to apologize and losing a gig performing on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Burrell is now opening up about the incident.
Speaking with the radio show Praise 102.5 earlier this month, Burrell said she was upset that fellow churchgoers and Christians didn't support and defend her during the backlash.
"You know what was hurtful is church people started to jump on the bandwagon of what secular people's description of it was," she said. "The one day that I cried is when I realized the frontline social world church was not as strong toward me or strong toward the word that I spoke to defend the word. Not enough people defended it."
Burrell also suggest some well-known gospel artists who spoke out against her publicly previously led her to believe their views on homosexuality were different.
"They went for so long giving me one thing, but then the truth came out about their feelings concerning whatever," she said. "They kind of jumped on the bandwagon of famous people. I think that's because they decided to be more famous than Kingdom-minded."
Burrell went on to discuss being nixed from the "Ellen Show," (the singer was set to perform "I See Victory" from the "Hidden Figures" soundtrack with Pharrell Williams) saying she wasn't hurt by the openly gay talkshow host's decision. Burrell told the radio station that if she did appear on the show, she may have embarrassed people by questioning DeGeneres's faith.
"I don't know if I should have made it to Ellen because I probably would have ended up embarrassing the church or embarrassing somebody because I would say, 'You know Ellen, do you know the Lord?' " she explained. "And I probably would have interviewed her about her relationship with God if we had sat down. Because that's my driving force, I love God."
Watch a segment of Burrell's interview below:
