Kim Burrell is a Grammy-nominated gospel singer and ‘pastor’ of Spirit of Faith Christian Center in Maryland, who previously garnered a bit of controversy after, in 2022, she mocked congregants for being “broke” and “ugly,” suggesting they were beneath her, and again in early 2024 after she acted like a diva over another member of the worship team singing along with her.
Now, she’s apologizing for her 2017 ‘anti-LGBTQ’ comments. She told the audience at the 39th annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards, for which the 51-year-old was accepting the Aretha Franklin Icon Award, that she was sorry for her “hurtful” comments in the past. What were those hurtful comments?
“I came to tell you about sin… That sin nature, that perverted homosexual spirit is the spirit of delusion and confusion, it has deceived many men and women and it has cast a stain on the body of Christ. 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. It has come to our church and it has embarrassed the Kingdom of God.”
Sounds good to us. Now, however, she’s seemingly backtracked and singing a different tune, telling the audience while accepting the award:
“Over the course of time and with much soul-searching, I come to fully understand the reach and impact of my voice beyond Gospel music. There is such a care to take when you realize you’re not just preaching to the choir anymore. You’re preaching to the ones who wanted to be in the choir and were too scared to come because they didn’t understand our language.
… [I] understand that some of my past words, comments, preaching has been received by the LGBTQ+ community as negative and hurtful. There’s nothing more hurtful than to think — to imagine — that you’ve said something in the name of God, and it hurt somebody.
You know we have a church lingo, we have a church jargon that everybody doesn’t get. And sometimes you have to say it for the people in the back. And for that, I want to apologize to the LGBTQ community. Let’s give them a great big round of applause. We want them to have strength and to sincerely know that we must all do the work to embrace all of God’s people and show forth his love to everyone, amen?
Tonight, I hope this award and this moment can be the beginning of bridge-building and listening to each other as we follow peace with all men and develop the character of God, which requires seeing God.”
