—Preached in a sermon in 2017 at the Love & Liberty Fellowship Church in Houston that people who engage in homosexual acts are “perverted” and said they had been deceived by the “homosexual spirit.” She also warned that people who “play with” homosexual sin would “die from it.” Burrell described sex acts and said, “The spirit of delusion and confusion, it has deceived many men and women, and it’s caused a stain on the body of Christ.” She said, “To every person who is dealing with the homosexual spirit, that has it, I love you and God loves you but God hates the sin in you and me. Anything that is against the nature of God.”
—Publicly speculated about the now deceased Bishop Eddie Long’s HIV status: “I’ve never seen anything as heartbreaking as watching Bishop Eddie Long go down to nothing. It is an embarrassment to the Church ‘cause nobody would be saying that you have AIDS unless a homosexual man didn’t come out and reveal what you did behind closed doors … they have yet to deny it.”
—In response to considerable criticism, Burrell said that she makes “no excuses or apologies” for the sermon, adding “I love you, and God loves you, but he hates the sin in you and me.” Shortly after the video of the sermon surfaced, The Ellen DeGeneres Show canceled Burrell’s scheduled appearance, as did the BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music event, where she was removed as an honoree. Ellen said, “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… There’s no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017, and moving on. There’s no room.”
—Blamed unspecified “enemies” for posting portions of her sermon.
—The New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators canceled an appearance by Gospel singer, Kim Burrell, citing her past controversial comments on the LGBTQ community.
—Burrell’s radio show was canceled. The show, “Bridging the Gap,” was broadcast on Texas Southern University’s KTSU-FM. TSU did not address the controversy in their decision, saying in a statement released to the media only that “The Kim Burrell show is no longer airing as part of KTSU Radio programming.”
—Told a woman in the congregation where she was performing to stop singing along with Burrell, saying, “It’s a solo. God’s using me. Don’t sing with me right now,” and “I’m singing alone now. Ma’am, ma’am, with that mask… Let that mask work for you. I’m singing alone. I’ll call you when I’m ready.” She later sold merchandise based on her admonition, “Let That Mask Work for You.”
—Faced backlash after making controversial remarks during a church appearance, where she denigrated poor congregants as “broke” and “ugly.” Blackenterprise.com reports, “She also told the church to invite her back if they could afford her, noting that she wasn’t ‘that expensive.’ Burrell also jokingly told the church to use their PPP loan.”
—Admonished Black women’s hygiene in a sermon saying, “Ladies, it’s time for you to stand up and get you some money. Get a job. Quit thinking you’re so wonderful with that dirty thong on, thinking some brother gon’ come in your life and make you a princess, and you ain’t living a dime’s worth of nothing.”