Unistalling Homebrew/Updating Wii

My sisters ex-fiance homebrewed my wii for me about 2 years ago. I need to update the wii shop channel because my sister recently got netflix and wants it on the wii. I've heard so many different things about what to do. If I update the Wii without uninstalling Homebrew, will it "brick" my Wii? (I'm not even sure what that is) I would talk to her ex, but we have no way of contacting him anymore. The Homebrew website says to go to the Wii system menu and simply delete the channel. Would this work? Or would my Wii still crash when I update it? HELP!! :(

It's safe to update without uninstalling anything.