Michelle Shocked - Michelle Shocked Apologises For Homophobic Rant

The Anchorage hitmaker stunned audience members at Yoshi's when she broke into an anti-gay marriage tirade onstage on Sunday night (17Mar13).

Venue bosses immediately pulled the plug on the gig and 10 other club owners across America have since scrapped planned concerts as a protest against Shocked, who now insists her comments were misconstrued.

The born-again Christian claims she was only repeating the views of certain members of the church community when she said, "When they stop Prop 8 (the legislation outlawing same-sex marriage in California) and force priests at gunpoint to marry gays, it will be the downfall of civilisation, and Jesus will come back," and added, "You can go on Twitter and say, 'Michelle Shocked says God hates f**s!'"

The singer insists that her support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (Lgbt) community has "never wavered" and she denied reports suggesting the rant was a publicity stunt.

In two statements released on Wednesday (20Mar13), Shocked wrote, "I do not, nor have I ever, said or believed that God hates homosexuals (or anyone else). I said that some of His followers believe that... When I said 'Twitter that Michelle Shocked says God hates f**gots,' I was predicting the absurd way my description of, my apology for, the intolerant would no doubt be misinterpreted...

"To those fans who are disappointed by what they've heard or think I said, I'm very sorry: I don't always express myself as clearly as I should... I'd like to say this was a publicity stunt, but I'm really not that clever, and I'm definitely not that cynical.

"But I am damn sorry. If I could repeat the evening, I would make a clearer distinction between a set of beliefs I abhor, and my human sympathy for the folks who hold them... I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of any so-called faith preaching intolerance of anyone."