On Oprah‘s Next Chapter, Her Royal Winfrey sits down with Cissy Houston, mother of the late, great Whitney Houston (may she rest). Cissy’s dancing on her daughter’s grave with the new book, Remembering Whitney, in which at some point she addresses Whitney’s rumored lesbian relationship with longtime friend, Robyn Crawford.
When Oprah, no stranger to those kinds of sapphic sister stories herself, asks Cissy if there was any truth to those rumors, Mama Houston claims she never knew for sure. The only thing she was sure about was that she would not have condoned her daughter being a lesbian.
Like, at all. Not in the least. Don’t even joke about it ’cause Cissy ain’t laughin’.
Oprah seems a little taken aback by Cissy’s no-bones-about it answer, then rebounds with a question we’ve all been asking: so were you happy when Bobby Brown came into the picture?”
How about we take this to the next level?
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Cissy: NOPE.
Join the club.
Cam
So her daughters dead and the mother is still a raging bigot.
Seeing why maybe Whitney was messed up.
neostud
@Cam: This is probably why She was using drugs in the first place. U know…..to help ease the emotional pain for not being the true and authentic, Whitney. This kind of stuff happens all the time. How sad. So Whitney, wherever you are, I hope you finally found to courage to live freely. R.I.P. Sista!
Aidan8
It’s interesting to me that people still feel totally fine expressing such opinions, often unprompted, and often with alacrity. The most prominent/frequent examples come from evangelical-types… people predisposed to “sharing” their beliefs even when not asked to do so. I’d be interested to have a sit-down with Cissy and see her reaction were I to say “I am sure I wouldn’t approve of a white woman marrying a black man.” Years ago, it was common for people to openly express such bigotry regarding “mixed-marriage.” Yet today, I’m assuming she would take offense, maybe even ask me to leave or walk out herself. We’re making progress for sure… maybe we’re getting close to the day when bigots lose their comfort in expressing such homophobia openly. Perhaps they should be shamed into it.
alexoloughlin
Now I have a vinyl recording of Cissy’s “Think it Over”, a big club hit in the 70s. The trash can is now going to be the recipient, stupid, ignorant woman.
Beef and Fur
Well, thanks for having our backs. It’s OK. We’ll continue to fight for your civil rights. We may not have marched across the same bridge, but our destination is the same.
ChiChi Man
@Beef and Fur: Who’s we? I’m not excusing Cissy, but I really get sick of the “gay people support civil rights and you black people don’t” garbage. Were you at Selma? Did you march in the streets? Because the people I’ve met who actually DID participate in the movement would never make such pointless divisive statements. And this may come as a shock but there is a lot of racism within the gay community. Again, I’m not excusing LGBT bigotry within minority communities (or any community). I think Aidan8’s response is a more effective way of dealing with such hypocrisy.
That said, Cissy Houston is a sack of garbage who helped destroy the life of her beautiful and talented daughter. Blech!
Ogre Magi
Typical christian homophobia
Kieran
Why would Whitney become a drug addict? Probably to dull the emotional pain of having a mother who would never accept her as she truly was. How sad. But not as sad as Cissy probably thinking she’s going to get a heavenly reward for being an outspoken homophobe.
CM79
@Beef and Fur: Please. You’re not fighting for any black persons civil rights now, nor have you ever. Don’t even try and pretend just because this is the Internet.
balehead
This explains alot to many…
balehead
Now Whitney is a true gay icon..she died for us…
Allen D.
Maybe I’m alone on this one, but I think her answers were almost refreshing. I appreciated that there wasn’t an attempt to justify her answer. There was no “well, I have gay friends, BUT”, etc. Those are the type of answers that seem all too common nowadays.
AEH
Wow. Can’t believe people are gonna crucify a grieving mother over a couple of remarks.
Dehreeus
@ChiChi Man: !!!!!
hf2hvit
@AEH: What is excusable about bigotry…especially from a person who has suffered it and now projects it upon others? Should we have felt bad for Hitler’s mother had she been around then?
Beef and Fur
@Whover. STFU. We all fight everyday and I have her back, your back and anyone else’s back everyday and I will always will. The fact that people like her and you allow our fight and the fights of all others to go without worth and merit is a travesty.
asa1973
I’m not surprised by that response from Cissy. What irritated me about this interview is that Oprah didn’t push harder. She just kept repeating the same question, which naturally produced the same answer.
I would have asked: Why? What would you say to the parents the gay fans you and your daughter have garnered? How would you have handled it – if your only daughter, whom you cherished, told you she was gay? Does that mean you would have shunned her? What sort of relationship do you think the two of you would have had? Many parents of gay people have a difficult time dealing with their children’s coming out at first, do you at least think your love for your daughter would have triumphed over all?
I’m not excusing Cissy, but I am irritated with Oprah for this entire interview. She soft-balled her questions. I think had Oprah gone further with her questions, Cissy Houston’s answers – much like those of our own parents when confronted with this issue – would not have been so definite. I also believe Cissy Houston is the kind of woman that would have come around in the end if she saw that Whitney was TRULY happy.
austinwondo
Oprah’s not much better. She really hasn’t taken a hard-line stance on equality. Sure, she’s championed gays folks like Nate Berkus and Suze Orman … but she’s also championed Dr. Oz … who’s an equality idiot. Also, none of Oprah’s companies score well on the HRC Equality in the Workplace assessment that is made each year. Both HARPO and OWN only score a 15 out of 100. Not sure what Oprah’s blind spot is on this issue, but there’s no doubt that it is there…
CM79
@asa1973: Your question would’ve come off as condescending, browbeating and badgering to Cissy, who undoubtedly would have then ended the interview. Cissy was there as Oprah’s GUEST, not as her witness to cross-examine. Cissy didn’t beat around the bush, deflect or avoid honestly answering Oprah’s questions. She was very clear. So from there Oprah needed to move on, even if she didn’t like the answers.
asa1973
@CM79: I know. I didn’t mean that I would have asked all of those questions. Just something for more clarification; an opportunity to say “I would have loved my daughter no matter what. Nothing would make me shun her. But, no, I can’t say I would have been happy or would have “condoned” her being gay.” I think Oprah missed that opportunity, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear that sort of clarification from Cissy in the coming days/weeks.
Mind you, I’m still bothered by Cissy’s answer, however honest it may have been.
Armando5908
She killed her daughter.