Aretha Franklin Addresses Rumors of Houston Family Dispute

Aretha Franklin, 69, is fighting mad about rumors that her no-show at goddaughter Whitney Houston's funeral on Saturday had to do with anything other than her poor health.

The Queen of Soul was scheduled to sing "The Greatest Love of All" at Houston's services in Newark, but cancelled last minute, leaving Dionne Warwick to step up to the mic. "Unfortunately I had terrible leg spasms and locked leg muscles until 4:00 a.m. this morning following my concert last night," Franklin revealed at the time of her cancellation. "I feel it necessary and very important to stay off my leg today as much as possible until concert time this evening."

At the same time, she sent her condolences. "My heart goes out to my dear friend Cissy [Houston], Dionne, Bobbi Kristina, and the rest of the family. May God keep them all."

Franklin's last-minute absence, however, got speculation rolling that she had been disinvited by Houston's mother Cissy because of her comments on Today the morning before the funeral, when she implied that Houston might have left the protection of her home at too early an age.

Now Franklin is lashing back at the media outlets that suggested a family rift due to the interview. "Stop the BS," she said in a statement, reports E! Online. "Cissy Houston and I have been longtime friends for almost 50 years. I have four invitations and parking passes that were sent to me for the funeral," the singer maintained, shaming tabloids that are "more interested in sensationalism and negative speculations than the truth …. Cissy does not need ridiculous speculation and neither do I — particularly at this time."

What's more, Franklin said, is that the editing of her Today interview was misleading, cutting out the part in which she said, "This is no reflection on Cissy or Nippy's upbringing."

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