Burrell faced backlash after speaking about churchgoers' appearances and financial statuses, COVID-19 and more, during a sermon.
Gospel singer Kim Burrell is apologizing after a clip from a recent sermon, in which she insulted churchgoers at one of Brian Carn's Kingdom City Church locations went viral.
In the clip, Burrell commented on churchgoers' appearances, financial statuses and praised them for not getting vaccinated against COVID-19 or wearing a face mask. The singer joked about crowd members being "broke" and asked personal questions about their utility bills and living conditions.
"Sometimes before we get friends we have to do an interview: How long you been broke? How many times have you changed your name on your light bill? How many of your bills are in your little cousin's name? Do you live in a trailer home or a house?" Burrell said while laughing. "You understand. It's not about status or material things. It's just about choices."
She then moved on to the COVID-19 pandemic and referenced Paycheck Protection Program loans, also known as PPP loans.
We're at church… those of us that are walking by faith without a mask and no vaccine," she continued. "Hopefully we'll get a chance to meet each other when y'all invite me to come to your church. I'm not as expensive as I seem! I don't know, maybe you got a little left from your PPP loan. Prayer, Praise and Power, you understand. Amen."
Elsewhere in the clip, she discusses congregation members' appearances, calling them "ugly."
"Who likes to be told you're just ugly? No one likes to be told that," Burrell said. "Most don't get offended until they know the bad thing about themselves… I haven't chosen anyone to be ugly yet. God is good. God is great. You all look great. Most of you have on hats covering most of that anyway. Here's to you."
"I have a great personality," she declared before breaking into song.
On Tuesday, after receiving plenty of backlash online, Burrell shared a written apology on Instagram, but later deleted it, after that too was criticized. The following day, she released a video apologizing for her actions, explaining that her initial post was written by an "attorney" who "asked" her to do it.
"Hello everybody. This is Kim Burrell. I'm sorry. I mean it. I mean that. Not from the letter, from my heart," Burrell said in the clip. "I released a letter two days ago. It did not convey right at all, and I must tell you this — it was from an attorney that asked me to do it."
She continued, "The latter part, y'all know I know, it was offensive... It was not my intent for it to be but it was her wording to say, 'They need to be aware.' I said, 'Nah.' My friends called me and said, 'No, there are still people who are hurt from the part of them they love about you.'"
Later on in the clip, the 49-year-old musician said she wasn't going to issue another statement but instead decided to make this video out of "love" for her fans.
"I'm really truly sorry. I didn't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you. I don't plan on hurting you, and I pray that you will heal from this," she said, concluding the clip.
For more on Burrell, check out the video below.
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