Bishop Apologizes to Ariana Grande for Uncomfortable Moment at Aretha Franklin's Funeral
On Friday, Aretha Franklin was laid to rest in Detroit in a ceremony and procession that was borderline regal. The event spanned five days and multiple venues, including the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History where thousands viewed her body and New Bethel Baptist, on a street named after her father. Franklin was carried to New Bethel in the same vintage 1940 LaSalle hearse that carried her own mother and civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
More than 20 musicians performed at the ceremony, from Chaka Khan and Gladys Knight to Smokey Robinson, Faith Hill, and Ariana Grande. Unfortunately, there's been one relatively small shadow marring the days of celebrating the life of the woman described as the "soundtrack to the civil rights movement": after Grande's performance, Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, who presided over the service, pulled her into a hug that many viewers found distinctly creepy, with his hand just barely below her breast.
While Grande hasn't commented on the incident, the outcry online has been harsh, and appropriately so considering this all happened at the funeral for the woman who's best-known song is titled "Respect."
On Saturday, Ellis issued an apology through the Associated Press, saying he was sorry both for holding on to Grande like he did and for a joke about her name making him think of Taco Bell. Per the AP:
“It would never be my intention to touch any woman’s breast. ... I don’t know I guess I put my arm around her,” Ellis said. “Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar but again, I apologize.”
He said he hugged all the performers during Friday’s eight-hour service.
“I hug all the female artists and the male artists,” Ellis said. “Everybody that was up, I shook their hands and hugged them. That’s what we are all about in the church. We are all about love.”
He added: “The last thing I want to do is to be a distraction to this day. This is all about Aretha Franklin.”
Watch Grande's full performance of Franklin's "Natural Woman" below.
