CNN Asked Kevin Costner to ‘Cut Down’ Whitney Houston’s Eulogy for TV Broadcast

Kevin Costner revealed that CNN tried to get him to interrupt his eulogy at Whitney Houston’s funeral.
The 69-year-old actor was one of eight people who spoke at his late “Bodyguard” co-star’s funeral after she died at age 48 in February 2012, and he wasn’t going to not move when the channel tried to get involved and shorten his speech.
Speaking to Dax Shepard on the ‘Armchair Expert’ podcast, he said: “I had been working on this speech…and I tried to compile everything I wanted to do and I finally wrote this speech.”
“Someone said, ‘CNN is here, they wouldn’t mind if your remarks were shorter because they’re going to have commercials.’
“I said, ‘They can get over it. They can play the commercial while I’m talking, I don’t care.’ “
It is unclear whether the channel – or any other – cut part of his speech because of commercials, or whether it was broadcast in its entirety.
However, the “Yellowstone” actor still remembers feeling uneasy in case he overstepped and disturbed other speakers or attendees.
He explained: “There were people who really wanted to talk, and they were kind of looking daggers at me. What was I going to say? I started, and about 17 minutes later I was done. “
Other speakers at the funeral included Houston’s friend and mentor Clive Davis, music director Rickey Minor, security guard Ray Watson and his cousin Dionne Warwick.
She actually encouraged him to give the eulogy, but he was still worried.
He said: “I could feel the weight on her, now it’s transferred to me. What am I going to say about this little girl?
“(I) went back to this church in Newark and it was packed. It was electric. There were two bands playing, the church was alive. It was like, boom!”
Kevin previously reflected on the film’s success and how Houston’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You” resonated with fans.
He told Entertainment Weekly in 2022: “She sang the first part of it a cappella and musically, the world was never the same.
“We have a moment of her in this movie, we’ll never forget that and I think when movies work at their best, that’s what can happen.”