Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Aretha Franklin Wants A Piece of Dionne Warwick’s Arse for Saying She was Whitney’s Godmother: Report

aretha franklin
Aretha Franklin

*Uh oh! We’ve got a bonafide old school celebrity war going down. And not just any ol’ celebs, but the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin and another legend, Dionne Warwick.

So far it’s just Franklin doing the beefing, but she’s breathing fire straight at Warwick. Aretha is accusing Dionne of making up a story that she was Whitney Houston‘s Godmother, even though the alleged offense happened five years ago at Houston’s funeral.

“She blatantly lied on me … fully well knowing what she was doing,” Franklin said in a phone interview with the Associated Press, writes Nekesa Mumbi Moody.

Franklin called The Associated Press on Tuesday, after sending a lengthy fax the day before, to address what she claimed was a “libelous” statement against her made five years ago at Houston’s funeral. At the time, Warwick told funeral-goers that Franklin was there and introduced her, but then realized she wasn’t in attendance.

“‘Ree’s not here, but she is here,” Warwick said, referring to Franklin by a nickname. “She loves Whitney as if she were born to her. She is her godmother.”

At the time, Franklin said she was suffering from swollen feet and had to skip the funeral so she could perform later that night at Radio City Music Hall in New York, which she said she was contractually obligated to do.

Though Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston’s mother, said in the days afterward that Franklin wasn’t Houston’s godmother (it was Darlene Love), Franklin felt the comment was damaging to her and planned to address it at a later date.

“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,” she said.

Well it’s five years later so apparently Franklin feels the time has come.

Dionne Warwick attends The Hollywood Foreign Press Association Honour Filmaid International during The 69th Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 13, 2016 in Cannes.
Dionne Warwick

While the story that Houston was Franklin’s goddaughter has been part of her story for decades, Franklin said she first met Houston when Houston was a child — and she was far too busy to be anyone’s godmother.

Franklin saw Warwick last week at the Tribeca Film Festival’s premiere of mentor Clive Davis’ documentary, “Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives,” and she also performed. Franklin said Warwick tried to talk to her backstage.

“She said, ‘Give me a hug.’ I said, ‘Oh hell no. You couldn’t be serious,'” Franklin said.

Oh lord, the drama. Y’all too old and wrinkled for this foolishness. This is the kind of crap we’ve become accustomed to hearing from today’s crop of divas and wanna-be-divas.

So what does the Queen want at this point? An apology?

“I don’t care about her apology, at this point it isn’t about an apology, it’s about libel.”

She added: “We’ve never been friends and I don’t think that Dionne has ever liked me.”

So what is Warwick’s response to Franklin’s story? The AP went to Angelo Ellerbee who said:

“She will not dignify a response to the statement made by Aretha Franklin.”

 

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