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Celebrity

06th Jan 2017

Pharrell Williams spoke powerfully against hate speech on The Ellen Show

The singer talked about Kim Burrell's homophobic comments

Cassie Delaney

Earlier in the week, Ellen DeGeneres banned gospel singer Kim Burrell from appearing on her popular daytime show.

The singer was due to appear on the show to perform a duet with Pharrell Williams.

Burrell made headlines recently when she was captured preaching on camera. The 44-year-old referred to “the perverted homosexual spirit” during her sermon. In a later video she said: “I love you and God loves you but God hates the sin in you and me.”

“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.”

Burrell is currently working with Pharrell on the song I See Victory from the soundtrack of the film Hidden Figures.

Pharrell was welcome to appear on the show and he used it as an opportunity to condemn hate speech.

“There’s no space, there’s no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017 and moving on,” said the singer and producer.

He referenced Burrell saying:

“She’s a fantastic singer, and I love her, just like I love everybody else, and we all gotta 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.”

He then called on others to take a stance against hate speech and promote inclusion.

“Whenever you hear some sort of hate speech and you feel like it doesn’t 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 the sudden it starts to make sense to you,” Pharrell said.

“I’m telling you, the world is a beautiful place but it does not work without empathy and inclusion.”