Ellen DeGeneres is a dealer of good vibes. She makes guests like Rihanna and Harry Styles comfortable enough to discuss their sex lives and even got Barack Obama to awkwardly do that signature dad-dance when he first took office. The Ellen DeGeneres Show is a happy place that celebs of all sorts like to visit.
Which is why many fans are protesting against the legendary gospel singer Kim Burrell's scheduled appearance on Thursday.
According to Vulture, Burrell went on a homophobic rant while preaching at her Houston-based congregation last week, saying:
"You as a man, you open your mouth and take a man’s penis in your face, you are perverted. You are a woman and will shake your face in another woman’s breast, you are perverted."
Burrell is scheduled to perform the song "I See Victory" with Pharrell Williams and Janelle Monáe, which is the lead track for the recently released film Hidden Figures.
In an attempt to quell the backlash, the singer then released an half-hearted apology, but fans were not having it. A Change.org petition against her appearance on Ellen was started and has already locked in a few thousand signatures in a short period of time.
"I never said LGBT...I said S-I-N," Burrell said in her apology.
"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," she said according to Entertainment Weekly.
Yeah Kim, you can do better next time.
Williams tweeted what was clearly a message about that controversy after it emerged, despite not directly mentioning the show or Burrell.
— Pharrell Williams (@Pharrell) December 31, 2016
Monáe also addressed the comments using the above tweet and her own, personal message.
In part, she wrote, "We cannot sit Idly by nor will we speak silently when we are confronted with such violence against members of our community. I am personally beyond exhausted by the ignorance and bigotry living in some people. At times I want to punch and I want to slap a lot of people when I read and hear the shit that comes out their mouthes !!! I will rejoice when folks stop thinking they ARE GOD, Jesus' assistant, picking and choosing what "sins" are acceptable in the Bible, and using the Bible as a whip!"