The gospel singer says she makes “no excuses or apologies” for a sermon at a Houston church where she referred to gays and lesbians as perverted.
A video from the Love & Liberty Fellowship Church in Houston shows Burrell, 44, preaching about “the perverted homosexual spirit.”
“The spirit of delusion and confusion, it has deceived many men and women,” she said.
“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.”
The video surfaced just days before Burrell is scheduled to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show with Pharrell Williams, with whom she collaborated on the Hidden Figures soundtrack.
In the wake of the backlash against her, Burrell appeared on Facebook Live Friday evening to respond to the criticism.
She insisted she was attacking sin and not the LGBT community.
In the livestream she said: “We’re not in a war against flesh and blood.
“I care about God’s creation and every person from the LGBT and anything else, any other kind of thing that is supporting gay… I never said LGBT last night. I said S-I-N and whatever else falls in the sin was preached,” she explained.
“To every person who is dealing with the homosexual spirit, I love you because God loves you,’ she said. ‘But God hates the sin.”
On Saturday, Pharrell Williams issued a statement on Twitter that appeared to address the controversy.
“I condemn hate speech of any kind,” he wrote. “There is no room in the world for any kind of prejudice. My greatest hope is for inclusion and love for all humanity in 2017 and beyond.”
