Aretha Franklin Is Still Fuming Over a Lie Dionne Warwick Told Five Years Ago
Don't mess with Aretha.
Five years ago at Whitney houston’s funeral, Dionne Warwick crossed Aretha Franklin. And Aretha Franklin does not forget.
The Associated Press reports that Aretha is finally seeking revenge against Dionne for making up a story about Aretha being the late singer’s godmother. She sent a “lengthy fax” to the AP on Monday then followed up in a phone interview Tuesday.
“She blatantly lied on me,” Aretha told the AP, “Fully well knowing what she was doing.”
The comment was made when Dionne attempted to introduce Aretha, thinking she was in attendance. Aretha had actually not been able to come to the funeral, saying her feet were swollen and she had a contractually obligated appearance to make at Radio City Music Hall that same night.
“Ree's not here, but she is here," said Dionne to the funeral goers, using Aretha’s nickname. "She loves Whitney as if she were born to her. She is her godmother."
To explain why she has waited so long to take action over this comment, which was refuted by Whitney’s mother the next day, Aretha explained that she was waiting for the furor around Whitney’s death to die down.
"There's been so much going on around her, 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.
What exactly does Aretha want from this accusation?
"I don't care about her apology, at this point it isn't about an apology, it's about libel,” she says, “We've never been friends and I don't think that Dionne has ever liked me."
This still doesn’t really clarify what Aretha wants from Dionne, unless she is launching some sort of lawsuit. Dionne’s rep told the AP, "She will not dignify a response to the statement made by Aretha Franklin."
Aretha will be making some angry statements about that in another five years.
