Aretha blasts Warwick
The Queen of Soul is coming out swinging against fellow legend Dionne Warwick, accusing her of making up a story that Aretha Franklin was Whitney Houston’s godmother, even though the alleged offence happened five years ago at Houston’s funeral.
“She blatantly lied on me ... fully well knowing what she was doing,” Franklin said.
Franklin called The Associated Press on Tuesday, after sending a lengthy fax the day before, to address what she claimed was a “libellous” 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, Franklin felt the comment was damaging to her and planned to address it at a later date.
Franklin saw Warwick last week at the Tribeca Film Festival 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.
When asked if she wanted an apology from Warwick, she said: “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.”