The Online Newspaper of Lakewood High School

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    Ariana Grande Inappropriately Touched at Aretha Franklin’s Funeral

    Ariana+Grande+Inappropriately+Touched+at+Aretha+Franklins+Funeral

    Ariana Grande reminds us that all women in the world have no safe place. Friday, August 31st, friends, family, fans, music icons and famous politicians gathered at the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit to love and honor the passing of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.

    Grande was set to perform “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” a reprise of the beloved singer-songwriter. Although, her astounding performance was well renowned by the media, it wasn’t her performance that got the news’ headlines.

    At Franklin’s nine-hour-long funeral service, all the attention was on Grande and Pastor Charles H. Ellis III. Once Grande finished her performance, she and Ellis were to talk and honor Franklin, while Ellis got comfortable, a little too comfortable.

    “Girl, let me give you all your respect,” Ellis said as he wrapped Grande into a hug and skimmed his hand up upon her waist and groped her breast–in front of thousands of guest and millions of viewers.

    (Credit: Los Angeles Times)

    When viewing the clip, it is evident that Grande is very uncomfortable and is trying to get out of this situation without making it look like a big deal. You can see that she tries to pull away just enough so she tries not draw attention to her and take the spotlight from Franklin’s service in honoring her for her art, talent and achievements.

    “#RespectAriana” was trending worldwide all over social media right after the scene took place. Many even accused Grande on her dress! Many even accused Grande for ‘disrespecting’ Franklin for her choice of wardrobe.

    (Credit: Twitter)

    “Loved Ariana Grande at the same time that dress was very inappropriate Im sorry.”

    “Ariana Grande’s dress totally inappropriate and bending over…” former US President Bill Clinton was “just about to have a heart attack when he saw that tiny dress.”

    (Credit: Twitter)

    No one has the right to sexually harass or assault women, no matter what they wear, ever.

    In 2016, the EEOC released a comprehensive study of workplace harassment in the United States, which concluded that “anywhere from 25% to 85% of women report having experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.”

    Mike Colter, a actor, even made a joke about the topic.

    Colter was dragged through Twitter with mean and offensive comments for his so called, ‘joke.’ He claimed that the joke was “complete and biting sarcasm.’ He later deleted the tweet and apologized to Grande and fans.

    “Hello all. I apologize about my tweet earlier,” he reportedly wrote. “In no way do I condone any such behavior. It was intended to point out the absurdity of the act itself. Complete and biting sarcasm. I realized quickly that it was not taken as such.”

    The preacher apologized in an interview with 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,” Ellis said. “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,” Ellis said. “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.”

    He added: “The last thing I want to do is to be a distraction to this day. This is all about Aretha Franklin.”

    “It is evident that this issue is so deeply ingrained in American culture when incidences including a man of power who feels comfortable groping a woman regardless of who she is, where they are, and who is watching occur on such a public, unapologetic scale. Though thankfully this occurrence was brought to light instead of being brushed under the rug, many women aren’t so lucky.” – Miki Kennerly, The Volante.

     

     

     

    More to Discover