Aretha Franklin Throws Major Shade On Dionne Warwick For Lying

Today in Tha Wire, note to self....never cross music icon Aretha Franklin. In a report by the Associated Press The Queen has been fuming for five long years about something Dionne Warwick allegedly did. This week Franklin decided to get it all off her chest. Monday this week she reportedly sent a lengthy fax to her fellow music legend Warwick. On Tuesday the Press reports the Soul legend called them to give the a full run-down on why she's so upset. The Queen says Warwick is a liar!

At the root of Franklin's fury, is a statement that Warwick made during the eulogy, at Whitney Houston's funeral in 2012. While speaking to those in attendance the singing icon introduced Aretha, and invited her to come up and say a few words. Needless to say, The Queen was NOT in the building. Warwick calling Aretha by her nickname then said, “Ree’s not here, but she is here,” adding, “She loves Whitney as if she were born to her. She is her godmother.” Franklin said later she wanted to be there, but in addition to her feet being swollen, she was under a contract to perform that same night at Radio City Music Hall in New York. However she is furious about what Warwick did, and has been holding it against her all this time. In her phone interview this week Aretha told the AP, “She blatantly lied on me … fully well knowing what she was doing.”

Whether Warwick was being shady is anyone's guess. Bottom line is Aretha felt like she was. The Queen told the AP the only reason she didn't say something back then, “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.” The Soul icon said contrary to popular belief, she's not Whitney's Godmother either. Though she known the star from when she was a child, Franklin said she was far to busy for that.

Apparently Franklin got a flashback, when she ran into Warwick at the Tribeca Film Festival last week. The two legends were a part of the premiere for the Clive Davis' documentary, "Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives." Franklin was booked to perform and said Warwick tried to talk to her backstage walking up to her saying, "Give me a hug." To which she responded, "Oh hell no!" You couldn't be serious." I'm guessing the Press asked her if she'd be willing to forgive Warwick if she apologized, but The Queen ain't having that either. She reportedly stated, "I don't care about her apology, at this point it isn't about an apology, it's about libel." She continued, "We've never been friends and I don't think that Dionne has ever liked me."

Well..that's, is certainly unfortunate. Meanwhile, it's being reported that Aretha has always been a little on the sensitive side and had a few run-ins with other stars. Everybody remembers how The Queen played Pattie LaBelle at the White House, during the Women of Soul Concert in 2014. On hand to perform was the The Queen herself, along with Patti LaBelle, Jill Scott, Janelle Monae and Ariana Grande. As she entered the room to a standing ovation Pattie reached out to touch her, and she snatched her hand away! Peep the video below.

I gotta give it to her, Pattie played it off. However I'm sure when it happened, she was embarrassed and hurt by it. What's crazy about the whole situation was, the two music legends never had beef. The following day Aretha even said, she had no problems with Pattie. Matter of fact it was reported that after the concert, she even went over and greeted Patti with a big hug. Another time in 2008, Beyonce made the mistake of calling another singer Queen. The Grammy's was honoring Tina Turner that year and paying tribute to the iconic singer, Bey referred to Turner as “the queen.” Well that didn't sit well with The Queen of Soul, and she let everyone know that about it via her publicist the next day saying: “I am not sure of whose toes I may have stepped on or whose ego I may have bruised between the Grammy writers and Beyonce. However, I dismissed it as a cheap shot for controversy.”

Bey did the right thing and stayed quiet on the issue. Of course everyone understood, she didn't mean to disrespect Franklin in any way. Like Pattie, Tina played The Queen's shade off as best she could. When pressed for a comment the following day Turner said simply,“There were so many kings and queens there that night. Her ego must be so big to think she was the only one.” She laughed trying to downplay things and added, “That’s how queens are!”

Yup. I guess so. That's the tea for today, tune in every weekday and get the scoop with Tha Wire right here on The People's Station 107 Jamz.