Talk show star Ellen DeGeneres has spoken out about the controversial anti-gay statements made by gospel singer Kim Burrell.
The singer was due to perform on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show alongside Pharrell Williams, but her appearance was cancelled after she she suggested during a recent sermon that gay people will die for their “sins” in 2017.
Scroll down for video
DeGeneres discussed the reasons for axing Burrell with Williams, when he sat down with the talk show host, who is one of showbiz’s most prominent LGBT+ personalities.
“We have to talk about this before we go,” she said.
“[Burrell] made a statement, she was doing a Facebook Live, and she said some very not nice things about homosexuals, so 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,” DeGeneres explained.
“There’s no space, there’s no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017 and moving on. There’s no room,” Williams replied. “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.”
DeGeneres said as someone who “received a lot of hate and prejudice and discrimination because of who I choose to love” she couldn’t understand how Burrell, as an African-American woman, could indulge such prejudice.
“I don’t ever want anyone to feel hurt because they are different.”
WATCH: Ellen and Pharrell discuss the controversy below
