Ellen DeGeneres Ditches ‘Homophobic’ Singer Kim Burrell From Her Show

Ellen Degeneres has banned singer Kim Burrell from appearing on her talk show this week.

Some of the comedian’s fans are outraged after a tape of the gospel singer preaching at a Houston church began circulating online in which Burrell said that “the perverted homosexual spirit, and the spirit of delusion and confusion, it has deceived many men and women.”

Burrell also referred to specific homosexual acts as perverted and implied that LGBT people will die in 2017.

The singer was scheduled to sing a duet with Pharrell on January 5 on Ellen, but the talk show host today tweeted that Burrell will not be appearing on the show:

They were supposed to sing I See Victory from the soundtrack of the new movie Hidden Figures.

Fans didn’t want the performance to go ahead and set up a petition titled “Stop Gospel Singer Kim Burrell’s performance on The Ellen Show”.

It has already attracted more than 5000 signatures.

The petition urged Ellen to “Please stop Kim Burrell & teach her and others like her who hate, a powerful lesson in 2017 — that this type of speech & loathing must stop. It is killing LGBT people and has for decades.”

Burrell herself spoke abut the tape during a Facebook Live on Friday and blamed unspecified “enemies” for spreading only a portion of her speech.

She said that she has never discriminated against gays and lesbians.

“I love you and God loves you,” she said, “But God hates the sin.”

Pharrell posted on Instagram that “I condemn hate speech of any kind,” although he made no specific reference to his duet partner.

Singer Janelle Monae, who is also scheduled to appear on Ellen with Pharrell Williams and Kim Burrell, wrote on Instagram that she unequivocally repudiates “ANY AND ALL hateful comments against the LGBTQ community.”

“At times I want to punch and I want to slap a lot of people when I read and hear the sh*t that comes out their mouthes[sic]!!!” Monae wrote.

“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!”

This article originally appeared on news.com.au