Aretha Franklin Reignites Old Feud With Dionne Warwick

Aretha Franklin reopened an old feud with fellow singer Dionne Warwick on Tuesday.

ARETHA FRANKLIN REOPENS FEUD WITH DIONNE WARWICK

The five-year-old feud began over comments Warwick made at Whitney Houston’s funeral in 2012. Franklin blasted Warwick for her words on why the Queen of Soul had missed the funeral. “She blatantly lied on me… fully well knowing what she was doing,” Franklin said Tuesday reports PageSix, reigniting the issue.

During the funeral, Warwick noted Franklin’s absence by introducing her to the gathering. “Ree’s not here, but she is here,” she said, referring to Franklin by a nickname. “She loves Whitney as if she were born to her. She is her godmother.” Franklin called these words “libelous.”

Franklin claimed to have missed the service partly due to having swollen feet, though the singer was back up on stage that same night for her concert at Radio City Music Hall. Franklin has said she was contractually obligated to perform that night. “There’s been so much going on around [Houston], around the service, around the drugs, around her and [her ex] Bobby [Brown]… I didn’t want to add anything to that,” Franklin clarified later.

Franklin’s anger had not subsided five years later when she bumped into Warwick at the Tribeca Film Festival. “She said, ‘Give me a hug,’” Franklin recalled. “I said, ‘Oh hell no. You couldn’t be serious.’ We’ve never been friends and I don’t think that Dionne has ever liked me.”

In a statement, Warwick’s rep said the singer would not “dignify a response” to Franklin’s comments.