Kevin Costner Refused To Cut Down His 17-Minute Whitney Houston Eulogy So Networks Could Air Commercials

June 5, 2024 by Kay Johnson in Film with 0 Comments

Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston

Kevin Costner Refused To Cut Down His 17-Minute Whitney Houston Eulogy So Networks Could Air Commercials

Actor Kevin Costner doesn’t play about his late friend Whitney Houston.

The movie star recently reflected on rejecting a request to shorten his eulogy dedicated to his former co-star during her funeral, making it clear that he intended to honor the singer’s life in the best way possible.

Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner, 69, spoke about Whitney Houston’s public 2012 funeral service during a recent interview, explaining that he’d been encouraged to give a speech on behalf of his friend. Sharing his response to someone asking him to keep his eulogy brief, however, he stated:

“I had been working on this speech…and I tried to compile everything I wanted to do and finally crafted this speech…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.’”

Continuing, Kevin Costner revealed that the eulogy he wrote was 17 minutes long, and also opened up about being hesitant to give it. If you recall, Costner and Whitney Houston met and developed a close bond after starring in the critically acclaimed 1992 film The Bodyguard. The movie grossed $411 million worldwide and was the second-highest-grossing movie of the year.

The movie also launched Houston’s music career to new heights, as her covers of “I Will Always Love You” and “I Have Nothing” led the film’s official soundtrack, which went on to win Album of the Year at the 36th Grammy Awards. It reportedly remains the best-selling movie soundtrack of all time. Despite being present to support Houston through the success, Costner said he initially wasn’t going to speak at her funeral until his fellow entertainer Dionne Warwick persuaded him otherwise. He recalled about the matter:

“I could feel the weight on her, now it’s shifted to me..What am I going to say about this little girl? [I] went back to that church in Newark and it was filled. It was electric. There were two bands playing, the church was alive. It was like, boom!”