Kevin Costner Refused to Shorten His Eulogy at Whitney Houston’s Funeral Just So CNN Could Air Commercials During the Telecast: ‘They Can Get Over That’
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director Kevin Costner said during an interview on Dax Shepard’s ‘Armchair Expert’ podcast (via Entertainment Weekly) that he refused a request to shorten his eulogy for Whitney Houston just so television networks like CNN could air commercials during the live broadcast of Houston’s funeral.
Costner and Houston became lifelong friends after starring together in the 1992 romance blockbuster “The Bodyguard.” Costner was one of eight people who spoke at Houston’s funeral in 2012. “I had been working on this speech…and I tried to compile everything I wanted to do and finally crafted this speech,” Costner said. “Somebody said, ‘CNN’s here, they wouldn’t mind if your remarks were kept shorter because they’re going to have commercials.’ And I said, ‘They can get over that.
They can play the commercial while I’m talking, I don’t care.'” Costner’s eulogy was 17 minutes long, but he was initially hesitant to speak at Houston’s funeral.
It was only due to the encouragement of Dionne Warwick that Costner agreed to give a eulogy. “I could feel the weight on her, now it’s shifted to me,” Costner said about speaking at the funeral. “What am I going to say about this little girl? [I] went back to that church in Newark and it was filled.
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