*Photo: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty/ Illustration: EEW Magazine*

By Tiffany Hartwell // Controversy // EEW Magazine Online

In the famous scene from the 1986 movie, Wildcats, with Goldie Hawn, an African American cheer squad chants: “U-G-L-Y, you ain’t got no alibi. You ugly!”

That iconic clip draws big laughs. However, after a video of Grammy-nominated gospel star, Kim Burrell, surfaced insinuating that some church folks might be ugly, she is drawing criticism rather than laughter.

Burrell, 49, who was recently a guest soloist at Pastor Brian Carn’s church, began her opening remarks with a defense of the controversial host pastor who has had his fair share of scandals.

“Most don’t understand his personality because he is truth personified, and he tells the type of truth that makes most uncomfortable, cause who likes to be told, you’re just ugly?” asked Burrell who faced blowback in 2016 for calling homosexuality “perverted.”

“No one likes to be told that, especially when they have realized it,” added the woman known for her gospel-jazz vocal stylings. “Most don’t get offended until they know the bad thing about themselves, and then somebody else recognizes it and says, oh I saw the ugly, too. Just wanted to let you know.”

*Kim Burrell in hot water for comments she made about “ugly” church folks at a recent engagement. (Credit: Essence via EEW Magazine)*

The crowd response seemed dry—though it is unclear on the low-resolution video. Burrell also said, “All of you are beautiful. 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.”

Arguably, Burrell – the self-appointed Beauty Czar – chose an awkward and inappropriate way to prepare an audience’s heart for worship, though some have defended her, saying she was only “joking.”

“People need to lighten up,” said Brooke Hamilton, an EEW Magazine reader. “She was clearly joking, and her remarks were not meant to be serious. I’m not saying she should have started a ministry engagement that way, but I’m just saying she did not mean any harm. At least, I don’t think so.”

Others, however, interpreted Burrell’s remarks differently.

“She did all this right before she was about to sing and attempt take the church into worship,” noted business executive, John Moore, in a disapproving Facebook post.

“If we really want the truth, Kim has always been tasteless and trashy at the mouth. She has been issuing rude and degrading insults for years, and churches pay her to do it. I don’t understand why we allow church celebrities to talk to people any kind of way,” he said.

In 2014, while acting as a judge on BET’s gospel singing competition, Sunday Best, Burrell was accused of being “nasty” and “rude.”

The Christian celebrity was also slammed in 2019 for comparing the talent of R&B singer, Fantasia Barrino, to gospel singer, Le’Andria Johnson, calling, Johnson the “real singer” of the two.

When discussing Burrell’s latest controversy, Moore, a self-identified “executive leader in Corporate America,” told followers, “If I started out a meeting with my team and called them all ugly and demoralized them in a group setting, I would not have a job five minutes later.”

A Twitter user named Ricky said, “Kim Burrell needs therapy for all that bitterness and evil in her heart. She certainly is not representative of the Christ I serve.”

Another critic, Gabrielle Perry, tweeted, “As someone who grew up Catholic 18 years and then converted to Baptist in college, it was people like Kim Burrell that made me leave the church entirely.”

It’s safe to say, everyone isn’t so quick to write off Burrell’s comments as harmless humor; they see her words more as harmful and humorless.

In a response video, Burrell defended her actions, saying people took the video “out of context,” and everyone who was there knew she wasn’t serious and “got it.”

She added, “I’m just living my life. I’m having fun, and I’m at peace. I’m going to enjoy life. All of y’all who want to try and throw darts and still be childish and be immature, be hung up on the energy of Kim Burrell [from] four and five years ago, like y’all got some kind of assignment to release a certain amount of venom out of you, man, be free. Be free. Stop that.”

Patricia Salters, another EEW Magazine reader, thinks Burrell is the one who should stop.

“1 Thessalonians 5:11 instructs followers of Christ to ‘encourage one another and build each other up,’” pointed out Salters. “Hopefully Kim will apply the wisdom of this Bible verse next time she goes before an audience, stop talking foolishness, and keep any, well, ugly comments to herself.”