Pharrell Williams supports Ellen DeGeneres after homophobic singer Kim Burrell is banned from show

Pharrell Williams has expressed his support for equality to Ellen DeGeneres just days after the chat show host banned US gospel singer Kim Burrell from her show.

DeGeneres announced on Tuesday that Burrell, who had been scheduled to perform alongside Williams on The Ellen Show on Thursday, would not be appearing after a video of the singer making a string of homophobic remarks came to light earlier this week.

Explaining her reasoning behind the ban during her interview with Williams broadcast yesterday, DeGeneres said: “She said some very not nice things about homosexuals, so I didn’t feel that was good of me to have her on the show to give her a platform after she was saying things about me.”

For those asking, Kim Burrell will not be appearing on my show.

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) January 3, 2017

Williams – who later performed the song I See You, from the upcoming drama Hidden Treasures, without Burrell – showed his support for the chat show host, saying: “There’s no space, there’s no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017 and moving on. There’s no room.”

He continued: “We all have to get used to everyone’s differences and understand that this is a big, gigantic, beautiful, colourful world and it only works with inclusion and empathy. It only works that way.

“Live and let live. Love and let love,” he added.

“Agreed. I think I say it all the time,” DeGeneres replied.

“To me, when I say, ‘Be kind to one another,’ I feel that. Because, as someone who has received a lot of hate and prejudice and discrimination because of who I choose to love, I just don’t understand anyone who has experienced that kind of oppression or anything like that, it only gives me more compassion. It gives me more empathy.”

She added: “I don’t ever want anyone to feel hurt because they are different.”

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