Ellen DeGeneres Show: Talk Show Host Talks Kim Burrell Homophobia With Pharrell Williams [VIDEO]
Ellen DeGeneres and Pharrell Williams sat down this week for a discussion about Kim Burrell, the gospel singer who spouted homophobic remarks in a Facebook video.
Burrell, who collaborated with Williams on the song "I See a Victory" for the Hidden Figures soundtrack, was slated to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show alongside the singer/producer. However, after a video of Burrell speaking about "the perverted homosexual spirit" at the Love & Liberty Fellowship Church surfaced, she was swarmed with outrage. She then defended herself in a Facebook video, reaffirming her belief.
Of course, as a gay woman, DeGeneres felt that she could not host a guest who has such views on her talk show. So Williams appeared alone with DeGeneres for her Thursday episode, explaining the whole situation.
"I actually didn't know her, her name is Kim Burrell. She made a statement, she was doing a Facebook Live, and she said some very not nice things about homosexuals, so 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 explained.
"There's no space, there's no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017 and moving on," Williams added. "There's no room. She'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. It only works that way."
DeGeneres then spoke on how she has received a lot of "hate and prejudice and discrimination" through the years, and how she preaches only love.
"I just don't understand anyone who has experienced that kind of oppression or anything like that ... it only gives me more compassion," she said. "It gives me more empathy. I don't ever want anyone to feel hurt because they are different."
"Whenever you hear some sort of hate speech and you feel like it doesn't necessarily pertain to you because you may not have anything to do with that, all you got to do is put the word black in that sentence, or put gay in that sentence, or put transgender in that sentence or put white in that sentence, and all of a sudden it starts to make sense to you," Williams said. "God is love. This universe is love and that's the only way it will function."
