Kevin Costner shares how he stood his ground after CNN requested he cut down his eulogy at Whitney Houston’s funeral: ‘They can get over that’

Kevin Costner revealed this week that CNN tried to get him to shorten the eulogy he planned to give for Whitney Houston at her funeral in 2012.

The 69-year-old Yellowstone star said the news network asked him to shorten his tribute to his late Bodyguard star so it could work in commercial breaks while he was chatting with 49-year-old Dax Shepard for his Armchair expert podcast.

But Costner — who recently said he “took a beating” from Yellowstone producers after choosing to remain mostly silent amid conflict during the series’ final season — was unwilling to cut a word from his eulogy , and he challenged CNN to cut. to commercial in the middle of his speech.

Costner was one of eight people who spoke at Houston’s funeral, which was held in Newark, New Jersey.

The legendary singer was found dead in a bathtub on February 11, 2012, just hours before she was scheduled to attend Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy Awards party. She was only 48.

It was later determined that she had died in an accidental drowning due to a combination of chronic cocaine abuse and heart disease.

Toxicology reports later indicated that Houston had used cocaine shortly before her death, and that she also had Benadryl, the benzodiazepine Xanax, cannabis and the muscle relaxant Flexeril in her system.

While speaking about his contribution to the memorial service, Costner told Shepard that the issues surrounding his speech — which lasted just under 20 minutes — surfaced shortly after he finished it.

“I had been working on this speech… and I tried to put together everything I wanted to do and finally I created this speech,” he explained. ‘Someone said, “CNN is here, they wouldn’t mind if your comments were kept shorter because there will be commercials.”

But Costner wasn’t interested in giving his former colleague an abbreviated eulogy to appease CNN’s commercial desires.

‘I said, ‘They’ll get over that. They can play the commercial while I’m talking, I don’t care,'” he recalled.

It is unclear whether CNN or other cable news channels ultimately cut his speech for air commercials or whether they aired his lines in their entirety.

The Horizon star recalled the discomfort he felt before delivering his speech, fearing it would be too long even for some attendees or other speakers.

“There were a few people who really wanted to speak, and they were kind of staring at me. What was I going to say?’ Costner recalled. “I started and about seventeen minutes later I was done.”

Other speakers at the event included Houston’s longtime friend, producer and mentor Clive Davis, as well as her cousin Dionne Warwick, her music director Rickey Minor and her security guard Ray Watson.

Aretha Franklin, Houston’s “honorary aunt,” was also scheduled to sing a song in memory of the late singer, but she did not attend the service.

Costner also explained to Shepard that it was Warwick’s advocacy and encouragement that convinced him to deliver the eulogy.

“I could feel the weight on her, now it’s transferred to me,” he said of delivering the eulogy. “What can I say about this little girl?” he recalled worryingly.

But everything seemed to fit his speech once he arrived at the monument.

‘[I] went back to that church in Newark and it was filled. It was electric,” he said. ‘There were two bands playing, the church was alive. It was like, boom!’

Costner worked with Houston on their 1992 romantic drama The Bodyguard, in which the singer cemented her acting bona fides by playing a pop star who looked like her and was menaced by a crazed stalker.

Costner played a former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard hired to protect Houston’s character, though their romantic feelings threaten to get in the way of his duty.

The film received mixed reviews but was extremely popular with viewers. It became the second-highest-grossing film of 1992 and was the tenth-highest-grossing film of all time at the time.

Houston’s soundtrack was also a huge hit, becoming the best-selling soundtrack and album by a woman.

It featured Houston’s cover of Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You, which became closely associated with her.

The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for 14 weeks, which was a record-breaking achievement at the time.

Costner’s next big project is his Western epic Horizon: An American Saga, which has now grown to a planned four films.

He has shot the first two films back-to-back and is scheduled for release in June and August this year.

The star, co-writer and director began filming the third part of the series in 2023, but it was postponed due to writers and actors’ strikes in Hollywood before starting in earnest in May this year. Costner is also in development for a fourth film.

However, the first Horizon film received mixed reviews when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, and some box office forecasters fear the films are doomed to flop.

However, Costner’s popularity in the Western crime series Yellowstone – and the recent lack of new episodes for fans – may encourage some viewers to check out Costner’s multi-part Western epic.