Photo by Jerod Harris
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Erykah Badu is raising some eyebrows after revealing kind thoughts about the likes of Adolf Hitler.

"Hitler was a wonderful painter," the singer said in a newly published interview with Vulture, explaining: "I’m a humanist. I see good in everybody. I saw something good in Hitler."

When David Marchese, the writer of the story, pushed back, Badu conceded but still gave Hitler an out. "Okay, he was a terrible painter. Poor thing. He had a terrible childhood. That means that when I’m looking at my daughter, I could imagine her being in someone else’s home and being treated so poorly, and what that could spawn. I see things like that. I guess it’s just the Pisces in me."

Marchese again offered Badu a lifeline, suggesting she "might be operating on a higher moral plane," but the singer dug in: "Maybe so. It doesn’t test my limits—I can see this clearly. I don’t care if the whole group says something, I’m going to be honest. I know I don’t have the most popular opinion sometimes."

While Badu also praised Kendrick Lamar and blasted Donald Trump in the same interview, she reserved judgment for Bill Cosby.

"I weigh everything. Even what you just asked me, I would have to really think about it and know the facts in each of those situations before I made a judgment," she admitted. "Because I love Bill Cosby, and I love what he’s done for the world. But if he’s sick, why would I be angry with him? The people who got hurt, I feel so bad for them. I want them to feel better, too. But sick people do evil things; hurt people hurt people."

She continued, acknowledging she might face criticism for her statements.

"I know I could be crucified for saying that, because I’m supposed to be on the purple team or the green team," she said. "I’m not trying to rebel against what everybody’s saying, but maybe I want to measure it. Somebody will call me and ask me to come to a march because such and such got shot. In that situation I want to know what really happened. I’m not going to jump up and go march just because I’m green and the person who got shot is green. The rush to get mad doesn’t make sense to me."