Legendary singers Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick apparently have a few issues going on between them.
According to the Associated Press, on Tuesday, Aretha Franklin did a phone interview after she reportedly sent a lengthy fax the day before to address a “libelous” statement against her made five years ago at Whitney Houston’s funeral.
Franklin reportedly accused Dionne Warwick of making up a story about her being Whitney Houston’s godmother. During the interview, Franklin said, “She blatantly lied on me … fully well knowing what she was doing.”
Back in 2012, Franklin was unable to attend Houston’s funeral. At the time, Warwick mentioned to those in attendance that Franklin had been there. However, when Warwick realized that she wasn’t she reportedly said,”‘Ree’s not here, but she is here. She loves Whitney as if she were born to her. She is her godmother.”
Days following the funeral Cissy Houston mentioned that Franklin wasn’t Whitney’s godmother, and Franklin made plans to address it all at a later date.
Five years later Franklin now says, “There’s been so much going on around her [Houston], around the service, around the drugs, around her and Bobby [Brown] supposed to be fighting, I didn’t want to add anything to that and I didn’t want to be a part of that.”
Franklin and Warwick recently saw one another at the Tribeca Film Festival for Clive Davis’ documentary. Franklin recalled their encounter, “She said, ‘Give me a hug.’ I said, ‘Oh hell no. You couldn’t be serious.”
When asked if she would be open to an apology from Warwick, Franklin said, “At this point, it isn’t about an apology, it’s about libel.” A representative for Warwick responded and said, “She will not dignify a response to the statement made by Aretha Franklin.”
Who knew any of our living legends had beef in 2017.