Gospel Star Kim Burrell’s Radio Show Canceled After Homophobic Rant
Gospel star Kim Burrell’s radio show “Bridging the Gap” has been canceled after a video surfaced in which the singer and preacher makes homophobic comments, Houston’s ABC News affiliate reports (via The Associated Press).
“Bridging the Gap” premiered on the Texas Southern University radio station KTSU last June. The Houston university announced the cancellation in a statement, saying, “The Kim Burrell show is no longer airing as part of KTSU Radio programming.” Per a description on the KTSU website, “Bridging the Gap,” featured a mix of music and talk, with Burrell discussing religion and welcoming a variety of musical guests.
in a widely circulated video of Burrell preaching at a Houston church, the singer said, “The perverted homosexual spirit and the spirit of delusion and confusion … has deceived many men and women.” She later claimed that homosexuals would “die in 2017.”
Burrell defended her comments on Facebook Live soon after, blaming her “enemies” for spreading only a portion of her sermon and saying, “To every person that is dealing with the homosexual spirit that has it, I love you ’cause God loves you. But God hates the sin.”
While widely known in gospel circles, Burrell’s profile has grown lately. She sang on “Godspeed” from Frank Ocean’s Blonde and joined Pharrell on “I See A Victory,” the lead single from the soundtrack to the new historical drama Hidden Figures. The pair performed the song on The Tonight Show in December, and were scheduled to do the same on Ellen Thursday. Host Ellen DeGeneres removed Burrell from the performance following the controversy.
Pharrell still appeared on Ellen and continued to distance himself from Burrell’s comments during an interview with DeGeneres. “There’s no space, there’s no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017 and moving on,” he said. “[Burrell]’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.”