Shortly after the "Respect" singer announced plans for retirement, she accused fellow soul diva Dionne Warwick of making "libelous" statements about her in April. Aretha Franklin notably covered Dionne's hits "Walk on By" and "I Say a Little Prayer" in the late '60s, but apparently the bad blood between them has been simmering for years. "At this point, it isn't about an apology, it's about libel," she said. "We've never been friends, and I don't think that Dionne has ever liked me."
The drama allegedly all started five years ago at Whitney Houston's funeral. Dionne was making a speech in front of the funeral-goers and introduced Aretha before realizing that she wasn't actually there. "'Ree's not here, but she is here," she said, using the 75-year-old's nickname. "She loves Whitney as if she were born to her. She is her godmother." Though Aretha insists her reason for not being there was genuine — she was resting her swollen feet so she'd be in good enough shape to follow through with a contractually obligated performance later that night at Radio City Music Hall — she was angry her name had been brought up at all, especially since she's not actually Whitney's godmother (a fact she claims Dionne is well aware of, since Dionne and Whitney are cousins).
Both singers attended this year's Tribeca Film Festival, where Dionne reportedly approached Aretha backstage. "She said, 'Give me a hug.' I said, 'Oh hell no. You couldn't be serious,'" Aretha recalled. Although no video footage of the incident exists (that we know of), we can only imagine it went something like the time Aretha famously denied Patti Labelle a hug at a performance at the White House.
