Scribbled in history books for some good and not-so-good reasons, 2017 brought with it some of modern music’s most memorable moments. Now, as the year draws to a close, TGJ is reflecting on our favorite moments that rocked – and to some degree reshaped – the Urban and Pop musical landscape as we know it.
Next up we reflect on once beloved gospel star Kim Burrell and the year she fell from grace…
Like Mariah Carey before her, Kim Burrell’s 2017 technically started off on a sour note…in 2016! On New Year’s Eve the highly touted gospel star was filmed condemning homosexuals in a fiery sermon that later went viral (see video above). The backlash was swift and harsh.
Due on ‘Ellen’ the next week in continued support of her contribution to the ‘Hidden Figures‘ soundtrack (alongside Pharrell Williams), Burrell was not only disinvited by the show’s hostess but also distanced from the project all together by Williams and the film’s stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae (click here to read more).
As if that wasn’t enough, Burrell lost her television show, radio show, and was uninvited to award shows for her anti-LGBT stance (click here to read more). To put this into perspective, all of the aforementioned occurrences happened less than 7 days from the day the video surfaced. Even acts who tried to offer their support of the embattled ‘Try Me Again’ singer (see: Shirley Caesar, Tamar Braxton, & more) suffered criticism at the hands of detractors.
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The events at the year’s onset forced Kim out of the spotlight to spend most of 2017 behind the scenes while the heat cooled.
Here’s hoping 2018 prove itself a much better year for the gospel legend.