Kim Burrell has a response to those who claimed she was “entitled” and “arrogant” for shutting down a woman’s attempt to join her in a moment of worship.
A clip that began circulating on X showed the gospel singer in the middle of a sermon at church with her flock standing, their hands lifted, as she sang, “Thank you.” It starts out innocently enough, but within seconds, she is heard saying, “It’s a solo. God’s using me. Don’t sing with me right now.”
Whoever she was speaking to seemingly failed to get the message as Burrell’s attempt to continue her praise was interrupted to say, “I’m singing along now. Ma’am, ma’am, with that mask … Let that mask work for you. I’m singing alone. … I’ll call you when I’m ready.”
Along with being deemed a “menace” for calling out the churchgoer, Burrell faced a hefty serving of unpraiseworthy reactions to the clip.
“I don’t like her, but at the same time, you not bout to sing over me either. she so nasty. But a lot of our church heroes are like that they just don’t get caught in 4k like she do all the time,” tweeted a critic.
Wait.. she responded YALL! LOL pic.twitter.com/vwIpXQNjSi
— Lori’s mentor (@LoDaPen) January 24, 2024
“At this point why are people still letting her sing or speak in the church? She spews too much hate out,” posted a second user on X. And a third wrote, “Yolanda Adams would never.” The Houston-based artist attempted to set the narrative straight with a video response to the backlash.
She explained, “I’m thinking that I’m in a solo, and you always got that one, that one that has to join ‘ya. And I heard her, y’all, and she was singing, and I was just going for it … ’cause I’m operating and things of the spirit — sometimes when I operate publicly, everybody doesn’t understand the dispensation of what I operate in.”
Instead, the songwriter said people only view her as a singer and not a spiritual vessel of multiple disciplines. “I’m the preacher. I’m the person with the gift of prophetic … but anyway … I keep hearing her.” Burrell then claimed that a parishioner, seated in front of the woman who was “disconnected” from the sermon, attempted to convey that the interrupter had a message to share.
She concluded with, “If you go further into the video … I pulled her up, and then she went dancing. What a time we had.” The gospel figure is no stranger to scandals. In 2023, she was slammed after revealing Jay-Z personally called her to share that her music lifted Beyoncé’s spirits after she allegedly locked herself away in a room for 11 hours with only Burell’s music playing.
The year prior, the pastor was widely scrutinized for calling out “broke” and “ugly” people during a speech at Kingdom City Church. In years past, she has also faced backlash for her disparaging remarks about the LGBTQ+ community.
