Pharrell Collaborator Kim Burrell Responds to Backlash Over Homophobic Remarks (original) (raw)
Published on December 31, 2016 06:45PM EST
Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images
Gospel singer and pastor Kim Burrell is standing by homophobic remarks she made during a recent sermon at her Houston church, video of which has sparked a backlash online.
In a pair of videos posted to Facebook on Friday evening, Burrell said her words had been misconstrued but continued to assert that homosexuality is a sin.
"I never said LGBT" in the sermon, Burrell said in the first video. "I said S-I-N."
She added, "I know that people are going to be mad," but did not apologize for her comments. "To every person that is dealing with the homosexual spirit, that has it, I love you because God loves you," she said. "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."
In a follow-up video, Burrell clarified that she "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 criticism this week after a video emerged of her preaching against homosexuality. In the sermon, 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 surfaced just days before Burrell is scheduled to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show with Pharrell Williams, with whom she collaborated on the Hidden Figures soundtrack.
Representatives for Burrell, Williams, and DeGeneres did not immediately respond to requests for comment, though Williams appeared to address the controversy on social media Saturday. He posted a statement that said, "I condemn hate speech of any kind. There is no room in this world of any kind of prejudice. My greatest hope is for inclusion and love for all humanity in 2017 and beyond." <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKimBurrellLove%2Fvideos%2F10154787665245050%2F&show\_text=1&width=560" width="560" height="646" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" class="" allowfullscreen="" resize="0" replace_attributes="1" name="">
Watch Burrell's Facebook videos above.