January 6, 2017 | Arts / Entertainment

Ellen drops homophobe from appearing on show

Ellen DeGeneres was supposed to have gospel singer Kim Burrell (pictured) on her show this week. But Burrell revealed her darker homophobic side during a church sermon last week and DeGeneres gave the singer the boot.

Burrell was supposed to perform a single she wrote for the new movie Hidden Figures. Pharrell Williams, who helped write the song, was also slated to perform.

A video of her preaching at a Houston, Texas, church came out this week. In it she can be heard saying that “the perverted homosexual spirit, and the spirit of delusion and confusion, [...] has deceived many men and women.” She also claimed that homosexuals would all die in 2017.

She later refused to back down, but argued the tape did not reveal the full sermon. "To every person that is dealing with the homosexual spirit that has it, I love you 'cause God loves you," she said. "But God hates the sin."

DeGeneres was having none of it. She told Pharrell:

"[Burrell] made a statement, she was doing a Facebook Live, and she said some very not nice things about homosexuals, so I didn't feel like that was good of me to have her on the show to give her a platform after she's saying things about me.

 

"I say it all the time, to me, when I say be kind to one another, I feel that. Because as someone who has received a lot of hate and prejudice and discrimination because of who I choose to love, I just don't understand anyone who has experienced that kind of oppression, or anything like that, it only gives me more compassion. It gives me more empathy. I don't ever want anyone to feel hurt because they're different."