Dionne Warwick is the latest diva to find herself on the receiving end of an Aretha Franklin diss.
Today, Aretha sent a lengthy fax to members of the press berating Dionne for starting a rumour about her.
What it was?
That she was Whitney Houston’s godmother.
Aretha believes that at Houston’s funeral in 2012 Dionne intentionally drew attention to the fact Franklin wasn’t in attendance without being sure that she was during the speech she shared to honour the star’s short life.
‘Ree’s not here, but she is here. She loves Whitney as if she were born to her. She is her godmother.
The Associated Press explains:
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.
Five years after Dionne made the comment and Whitney’s mother Cissy revealed that Aretha wasn’t Whitney’s godmother, the ‘Respect’ performer has decided to “clap back” and argue that Dionne knew it wasn’t true “because I was far too busy to be anyone’s godmother”.
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.
Why now?
Well, Aretha revealed that she and Dionne bumped into each other at the Tribeca Film Festival’s premiere of mentor Clive Davis’ documentary, “Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives”. Dionne, who had no idea Aretha was upset with her, attempted to hug her.
Aretha’s response?
She said, ‘Give me a hug.’ I said, ‘Oh hell no. You couldn’t be serious.’ 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.
Dionne learned of Aretha’s diss this morning and had her publicist issue the following statement:
She will not dignify a response to the statement made by Aretha Franklin.
The pair’s tumultuous relationship inspired the YouTube series ‘Got 2 Be Real’.