Soul star Erykah Badu had attracted her fair share of controversy over the years, from being arrested for disorderly conduct while shooting a music video nude, to playing at the birthday party of the notorious King of Swaziland, Mswati III - but her latest comments pretty much outdo them all.

Badu was being interviewed for Vulture magazine when she was asked about comments she made about Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan several years back. Many perceived them to be antisemitic and although she denied that she was, her follow-on comments didn't help her case.

"I don't even know what anti-semitic was before I was called it," she said. "I'm a humanist. I see good in everybody. I saw good in Hitler."

When the interviewer reacts disbelievingly, she said "Yeah, I did. Hitler was a wonderful painter", before going on to refer to the Nazi dictator's alleged "terrible childhood" and calling him a "poor thing."

She also spoke about Bill Cosby, saying: "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 later acknowledged: "I know I don't have the most popular opinion sometimes."

See the selected quotes below and read the full interview here.