Bobby Brown caused a scene when he exited the church during Whitney Houston’s funeral. Whitney’s ex husband released a statement that he left after his family was not allowed to sit with him during the service. Rev. Jesse Jackson defended Bobby Brown’s behavior but many others found it hard to understand that Bobby Brown couldn’t find a way to remain in the church. Whitney’s rumored boyfriend, Ray J, cried during the service while everyone paid tribute to Whitney’s life. SMH.
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Whitney Houston’s troubled ex, Bobby Brown, showed up at the invitation-only service with an entourage, which several media outlets counted as nine people.
When he tried to have everyone seated in the family section inside the packed New Hope Baptist Church, he was told that he could stay — but that everyone else in the group had to leave. I fail to understand why security treated my family this way and continue to ask us and no one else to move,” he said.
He also complained that he was prevented from trying to see the daughter he has with Houston, Bobbi Kristina.
“In light of the events, I gave a kiss to the casket of my ex-wife and departed as I refused to create a scene.
“My children are completely distraught over the events. This was a day to honor Whitney. I doubt Whitney would have wanted this to occur. I will continue to pay my respects to my ex-wife the best way I know how.”
After the service, the Rev. Jesse Jackson defended Brown.
“Bobby came in, and he was sitting in the front row,” Jackson told The Post. “Someone asked him to get up, and he wouldn’t get up. I felt they should have accommodated him, but they did not.
“Bobby showed nothing but love,” Jackson said. [via]
Here is an overview of the service and highlights if you missed the touching tributes made by Kevin Costner, Tyler Perry, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder and R. Kelly. Aretha Franklin did not make it to the funeral but paid tribute to Whitney during her concert in New York City.
Whitney Houston Mourned in Song and Prayer
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The best voices of a generation all paid tribute to her. But in the end, the most powerful voice at Whitney Houston’s funeral was her own.
The first notes of “I Will Always Love You,” at the end of a 3 ½-hour remembrance of the pop superstar, played Saturday as her casket left the hometown church where she first wowed a congregation.
Her mother, gospel singer Cissy Houston, walked right behind her, sobbing, “My baby.”
Houston’s voice — “you wait for a voice like that for a lifetime,” mentor Clive Davis said — moved her daughter, mourners like Oprah Winfrey and a packed church to tears after the biggest names in gospel and pop music sang about God, love, lost angels and moving on.
Stevie Wonder rewrote lyrics to “Ribbon in the Sky” for Houston — “you will always be a ribbon in the sky,” he sang. So did gospel’s the Rev. Kim Burrell for “A Change is Gonna Come,” which cousin Dionne Warwick said was Houston’s favorite song of all time. R. Kelly brought the New Hope Baptist Church to its feet with a stirring version of “I Look to You,” the title of Houston’s final studio album.
Wonder and Alicia Keys may have been the most famous singers offering tributes, in a congregation of mourners that included Winfrey, Mariah Carey, Kevin Costner and Chaka Khan. But the church choir and performances from the Winans family, the gospel star Rev. Donnie McClurkin and Burrell were equally powerful.
Houston’s 18-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina, sobbed and embraced Houston’s close friend, singer Ray J at length, as her mother’s voice began to drift through the church. His sister, singer Brandy, put her arm around him throughout the service.
Clapping hands, swaying and singing along with the choir to gospel hymns, the biggest names in entertainment joined Houston’s family and fans in the New Jersey city where she was first born and found her in voice in church.
Costner, Houston’s co-star in “The Bodyguard”, which spawned her greatest hit, imagined a young Houston using her winning smile to get out of trouble. He also remembered the megastar as uncertain of her own fame, who “still wondered, ‘Am I good enough? Am I pretty enough? Will they like me?’”
“It was the burden that made her great and the part that caused her to stumble in the end,” Costner said.
Filmmaker Tyler Perry praised Houston’s “grace that kept on carrying her all the way through, the same grace led her all the way to the top of the charts. She sang for presidents.”
Warwick presided over the funeral, introducing speakers and singers and offering short insights about her cousin; she joked that Houston’s Super Bowl performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” became almost as big as the telephone book.
Houston’s mother was helped by two people on either side of her as she walked in and sat with her granddaughter and other family to begin the service. [via]
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