Aretha Franklin To Dionne Warwick: “IDFWU”
It’s no secret that long before “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” was a hook, Aretha Franklin has been demanding the world put some respect on her name, so should we really be surprised that she’s still holding a grudge against Dionne Warwick over comments she made at Whitney Houston’s funeral FIVE YEARS AGO. Mind you, Aretha wasn’t even there!
“She blatantly lied on me . . . fully well knowing what she was doing,” Franklin said Tuesday.
Franklin’s comments follow a long detailed fax she sent to the media about her 76-year-old peer, claiming Warwick called out her absence during Nippy’s funeral by “introducing” her.
“Ree’s not here, but she is here,” Warwick said. “She loves Whitney as if she were born to her. She is her godmother.”
Apparently, that was shade, because Franklin didn’t attend the funeral. Meanwhile, Whitney’s mom Cissy Houston has confirmed that Aretha is not actually Whitney’s godmother and Aretha says she missed the memorial partly because she had swollen feet. She did manage to perform the night of the event at Radio City Music Hall, but says she opted to skip Houston’s funeral due to all the drama surrounding the event.
“There’s been so much going on around her [Houston], around the service, around the drugs, around her and [Whitney’s ex-husband] Bobby [Brown] . . . I didn’t want to add anything to that,” she said.
All this old biddy beef is now public thanks to Warwick’s attempts to put the diva’s differences behind them by greeting her at the Tribeca Film Festival.
“She said, ‘Give me a hug,’ ” Aretha recalled. “I said, ‘Oh hell no. You couldn’t be serious.’ We’ve never been friends and I don’t think that Dionne has ever liked me.”
Meanwhile, Warwick’s rep released a statement saying she would not “dignify a response” to Aretha’s remarks.
Sheesh. Talk about crotchety! We’re gonna “Say A Little Prayer” for Dionne that Aretha finds some forgiveness in her heart!
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