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Pharrell, Janelle Monae and Questlove Respond to Kim Burrell's LGBTQ Comments

Chaka Khan, Yolanda Adams and Octavia Spencer also weigh in.

Grammy-nominated gospel singer Kim Burrell is still entangled in backlash after airing a Facebook Live video of her sentiments about the LGBT community during a sermon.

But despite her semi-apology for the statements, some of her fellow Hollywood counterparts are chiming in on Burrell’s contestable remarks as well.

First came Chaka Khan, who blatantly called the sermon out for promoting hate and judgment. “It never fails that ministries promoting judgment and hate have nothing to do with the divine,” the songstress exclaimed on Twitter. “Love is for everyone!”  

Shortly after, Questlove not only addressed his face-palming disappointment with Burrell, but the entire Christian community’s judgment on social issues.

“I want Christians to focus on actually being Christ-like & compassionate to their fellow man,” he said before beginning a series of tweets. “I've seen more sermonizing, coldness, hypocrisy, and utter disdain from the Christian community on every issue (justice/women's issue/lgbtq). No one likes Nagging Hall Monitor. I want to see less ‘God's Teacher's Pet’ and less ‘SMH’ from Christians. And more compassion. That's fair, no?”

He added that the 2016 political election also emboldened such judgmental views and called out the “high-horseness of it all.”

But it was Pharrell, who is slated for an appearance alongside Burrell during the Ellen show on Thursday (Dec. 5), who most had expected to hear from. And after his Twitter post that denounced Burrell’s choice of rhetoric, that expectation was satisfied.

“I condemn hate speech of any kind,” he proclaimed. “There is no room in this world for any kind of prejudice. My greatest hope is for inclusion and love for all humanity in 2017 and beyond.”

It’s worth mentioning that besides Pharrell and Burrell being guests on Ellen DeGeneres’s popular television show, Ellen has been actively involved as a member of the LGBTQ community as well as happily married for eight years to her wife, Portia di Rossi.

Sharply following up his commentary, Janelle Monae reposted Pharrell’s thoughts with a lengthy caption of her own. The R&B songstress has also been actively supportive of the LGBTQ community, and shared a rather impassioned reaction to Burrell’s sermon.

“At times I want to punch and I want to slap a lot of people when I read and hear the sh** that comes out their mouths!” she wrote in the caption. “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!”

Coming in third to Pharrell’s comments and swiftly after the Electric Lady’s was Octavia Spencer and Yolanda Adams, seconding their opinions on equality and God’s love for all. Janelle Monae and Spencer are also costars in the highly anticipated film Hidden Figures, which is soundtracked by Burrell’s “I See a Victory” single as well.

See the collective reactions on Burrell’s remarks below.

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