Pastor apologises for ‘groping’ Ariana Grande at Aretha Franklin’s funeral
An embrace after her performance draws criticism for being too familiar
Ariana Grande had just belted out one of Aretha Franklin’s signature hits at the queen of Soul’s funeral on Friday, which prompted officiating pastor Charles H. Ellis III to call the young singer onstage to honour her as “an icon herself.”
But it is a remark that came before that – and what some have described as too-familiar touching from a much older man – that has Ellis apologising to the singer, an army of her outraged fans and the Hispanic community.
“I’ve got to apologise, because I have to brush up,” he said soon after calling Grande back to the podium. “My 28-year-old daughter tells me, ‘Dad, you are old at 60.’ When I saw Ariana Grande on the program, I thought that was a new something at Taco Bell. Girl, let me give you all your respect.”
As he joked about the young singer, he wrapped his hand around her, high above her waist in an act many are calling groping.
In an interview with Associated Press on Friday, Ellis, the pastor of the 6,000-member Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, apologised.
“I personally and sincerely apologise to Ariana and to her fans and to the whole Hispanic community,” Ellis said. “When you’re doing a program for nine hours you try to keep it lively, you try to insert some jokes here and there.”