by Michael P Coleman
I have been following the Kim Burrell / Hidden Figures / Shirley Caesar “controversy” from a bit of a distance. If you’re not up to speed, gospel singer Burrell has stirred up a hornet’s nest (and lost a few gigs) after one of her “sermons” went viral. It seems she decided to use her “platform” to condemn people who “carry the homosexual spirit.” I’m one of those people, I guess. As a bisexual man, I guess I carry that “spirit” at least half of the time.
Honestly, I wasn’t all that surprised by Burrell’s comments. She calls herself “The Voice” in her marketing materials, but I don’t know anyone else who calls her that. She’s kind of a down-market Tamela Mann. (If you say ‘I don’t know who Tamela Mann is,” I’d reply “Exactly.”). As both Burrell’s recently-launched TV show on the CW and her radio show in Texas have been cancelled in the wake the her comments, fewer and fewer people will be calling her anything.
All of the stars of Hidden Figures, music superstar Pharrell (who wrote and produced the movie’s soundtrack which features vocals from Burrell), Ellen Degeneres (who cancelled Burrell’s scheduled appearance on her talk show earlier this week) and many others have denounced the gospel singer’s hateful, homophobic comments. Pharrell simply told Degeneres that there’s no place for that kind of talk in 2017.
However, I was surprised earlier this week when Pastor Shirley Caesar, the undisputed Queen of Gospel, came to Burrell’s defense. In doing so, she even came after President Obama, saying that Burrell should have spoken out against the LGBT community years ago when “our president made that kind of thing ok.” After my initial shock, I wondered whether Pastor Caesar, at 78 years old, was starting to lose it. After all, if she was speaking about the legalization of same-sex marriage, that was done by the Supreme Court, not the president.
Unlike Burrell, Shirley Caesar had been an outspoken, early voice for AIDS victims in the 1980s. If you didn’t live through it, it might be hard to imagine a time when a paranoia about AIDS swept the country. No one knew how individuals contracted HIV, or even that AIDS was caused by a virus. Not even the president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, was talking about AIDS, as it claimed the lives of millions of people worldwide. Gospel artists, especially traditional gospel stars like Caesar, were avoiding the topic like — pardon the pun — the plague.
While BeBe & CeCe Winans and many other artists were doing everything they could make gospel music “contemporary,” Caesar swiftly brought it up to date in 1988 with her brilliant Live…In Chicago album. Ironically, the same album features her original version of “Hold My Mule,” which is the track that recently brought Caesar a new generation of fans with her “Greens, beans, potatoes, tomatoes…” ad-lib from her live performances of the song. It seems that Caesar is as interested in talking about the fruits as she is in talking about the vegetables.
At the end of Live…In Chicago’s first song, “Never,” Caesar says “I want to dedicate this next praise to all of the AIDS victims out there.” Sensing a negative reaction from her live audience, she boldly forges on: “You can say anything you want to about them, but that’s some mother’s child…some father’s boy.” Caesar movingly calls for — demands — compassion from her church folk, and goes on to equate AIDS to other illnesses and diseases, like cancer, in the body of the next song, the stunningly-anointed “His Blood.” By the end of that second song, after Caesar’s thrilling bible-based chapter-by-chapter sermonette on the many questions that God asks us and promising that God can and will send AIDS and cancer “…back to the pit…”, the entire audience, her phenomenal backing choir (Rev. Milton Brunson’s Thompson Community Singers), and Caesar herself are caught up in the spirit, taking every listener along with them.
By talking about AIDS, which was very much seen as a “gay plague” at the time by many in and out of the church, and pairing it with cancer and other illnesses that were being discussed publicly, Caesar put AIDS — and the LGBT community — front and center with the gospel community. If you’ve not heard Caesar’s Live…In Chicago, treat yourself to a listen to one of the greatest live albums ever recorded…of any genre.
Almost 30 years after Live…In Chicago’s release, and with so much having changed regarding LGBT rights, HIV / AIDS care, etc I was surprised and disappointed to hear Caesar defend the homophobic Burrell. Maybe Caesar just didn’t articulate her thoughts very well, or maybe her point-of-view has changed. If President Obama can move from not supporting same-sex marriage to fully supporting it in less than eight years, Caesar can shift from compassion for gay AIDS victims to support to a homophobic colleague. That transition, that shift, would be absolutely Caesar’s right. I would never diminish the impact of her Live…In Chicago recording or any of her other phenomenal recordings if in fact her current stance on the LGBT community isn’t in line with mine. But if she has made a shift, I can’t say I’ll be adding any new Caesar recordings to my gospel music collection.
In response to Caesar’s stated support for Burrell, one of my Facebook friends mentioned New Testament scripture about women in the church needing to remain silent, and I’d LOVE to ask Caesar about her take on that along with her thoughts on Burrell’s comments. I’ve a call in to Caesar with a request to talk. I hope she returns it…and helps return my faith in her. (Yes, I know that I should only put my faith in God, but for many, many years, music like Caesar’s was my direct link to Him.).
If I hear from Caesar, I’ll let you know.
This feature was written by Sacramento-based freelancer Michael P Coleman. Connect with him at michaelpcoleman.com or on Twitter.
