Bishop Charles H. Ellis III has apologised to those who feel touched Ariana Grande unknowingly as he led Aretha Franklin’s funeral service.
Grande honoured the home-going event with song and was invited to speak to Ellis about her feelings towards the late icon.
There, an awkward moment ensued.
Today, he has offered some clarity.
He told the ‘Associated Press.’
It would never be my intention to touch any woman’s breast. … I don’t know I guess I put my arm around her. Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar but again, I apologize.
I hug all the female artists and the male artists. Everybody that was up, I shook their hands and hugged them. That’s what we are all about in the church. We are all about love. The last thing I want to do is to be a distraction to this day. This is all about Aretha Franklin.
Ariana grande at the funeral of aretha franklin #RespectAriana pic.twitter.com/36CaWF2b82
— arianauptades (@bibledrugs) August 31, 2018
I like how the media and twitter have turned the narrative from her song was totally inappropriate and her dress was out of order to the pastor touched her in a inappropriate way. And I say Twitter because alot of her fans, this new generation born after 95, said that there was no issue with her singing “Natural Women” in the Lords pulpit nor with her dress being at the tip of her p**** lips, the issue was the pastor hands.
The Bishop squeezing her titie with his fingers
He wanted some of that young p u s s y
Well That’s exactly what this sounds/looks like to me, Bishop. A distraction. From a few of the real disastrous things that happened at the funeral. One of them being Ariana herself. This is a non story.
People are getting way too trigger happy with their newfound ability to assume malice and then collectively tweet someone to death.
Omg yeah he did he’s practically grabbing her side titty. He’s wrong for that
Girl I feel like this basic artist has been having all types of good publicity around her for the last two years. It feels like this is Taylor Swift case revamped. Instead of the Kanye West and middle America supporting her… the terrorist attack, the only one among the new girls having an “annoying” voice and things like this one are the things helping Ariana. Cause “Lord” knows amazing talent and artistry isn´t.
Agree. And it’s not that these basic artists choose for bad things to happen to them, like the terrorist attack, but the way that these events end up helping them and boosting their careers is…. interesting and sometimes very convenient. Just like the Taylor/Kanye thing that you brought up, that was honestly so over dramatic. Taylor became a professional victim from that point forward and everybody threw their support around her. Or look at a different example, the Rihanna/Chris debacle. Her stans are crazy if they don’t know that that helped build her career. I’m not making any claims anyone, it just seems like Ariana’s career is behaving that same way. Whether or not it’ll benefit her? We’ll see. Because it’s not like she’s anywhere near where Taylor was, success-wise, at that time.
Do you guys have jobs? All you do is talk so much s*** on here. Get a fkng life already.
The Chris brown abuse situation did not help Rihanna’s career at all. She was pretty much one of the hottest female artist at the time and her album released late that year ‘Rated R’ was less successful than the one before it.
I love Rihanna but that incident did help her career. Firstly, it gave her brand some drama, drama equals attention, especially regarding what she did next. Rather than follow with a victim narrative she followed with Rated R; which gave people even more to talk about. With that said, aside from that notorious incident Rihanna has mostly made her name via her music, distinctive voice, risk taking image, photo shoots and personality. That can’t be said for the New girls.., who are brand first, music way down the list of priorities. I still have no idea why Selena Gomez is relevant beyond her personal issues.
@Carlitos bruh, You spend your time keeping up with “All that we do” soooo….. Who’s the one without a job? If you would rather engage in topics and opinions that make you feel comfortable/happy, go somewhere and start some conversations that satisfy you. Nobody stopping you. But I’m not gonna write my comments (which aren’t negative without reason) with your sensibilities in mind. That’s what’s not gonna happen.
@Caleb Come on. It absolutely boosted her career. Before the incident, Rihanna wasn’t even more popular than Chris. He was the bigger star AT the time. She was well on her way though and I’m not arguing that she wouldn’t have made it without the incident happening. I’m just saying that it Helped her. And you honestly can’t deny that. Taylor Swift was obviously popping way before Kanye took her microphone too. But Publicity, good or bad, has the power to catapult you to greater heights faster than regular grinding can. Fact.
Nothing new here. Celebrity is built on talent, publicity, and the public’s interest in you. For example, Whitney was booed at the 1989 Soul Train awards because the public was tired of her white-washed singing style. She started dating Bobby Brown and the public regained interest and her career took off with the Bodyguard. Yall are nit-picking what these younger artists do like some bitter old queens when you fail to remember that your favs had big careers in large parts becase of the payola that took place in the 90s (Mariah, etc) and the same type publicity as what goes on today. Tina was a big star once she revealed Ike beat her. Nothing new here.
The way how Twitter can make or break someone is crazy, someone can say something bad about someone and all them collective minds just comes together and tear that person apart, they don’t care if it is true or not.
That’s all I was saying!
I think due to both parties height his hands fell in an awkward space… Once I viewed the video you could tell!!