The bishop who officiated at Aretha Franklin’s funeral has apologised to American singer Ariana Grande for how he touched her onstage and a joke he made about her name, The Telegraph has reported.
Bishop Charles Ellis III led Franklin’s funeral and awkwardly greeted the God Is A Woman singer on stage after she performed A Natural Woman. Images of the moment showed Mr Ellis’ hand holding Grande well above her waist, with his fingers pressing against one side of her chest.
The preacher apologised in an interview with The Associated Press at the cemetery where Franklin was interred late Friday.
“It would never be my intention to touch any woman’s breast. … I don’t know I guess I put my arm around her,” Mr Ellis said. “Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar but again, I apologise.”
He said he hugged all the performers during Friday’s eight-hour service.
“I hug all the female artists and the male artists,” Mr 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.”
Many people posted close-up images of the moment on Twitter, tagging it #RespectAriana.
Mr Ellis also apologised to Grande, her fans and the Hispanic community for making a joke about seeing her name on the programme and thinking it was a new item on the Taco Bell menu.
“I personally and sincerely apologise to Ariana and to her fans and to the whole Hispanic community,” he 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.”
Mr Ellis’ touching of Grande overshadowed some criticism earlier in the ceremony the short dress Grande wore for her performance. Numerous people posted criticisms online that the dress was too short for church.
Now, with all this that is happening in the church, many are left challenged with a conundrum, whether the conventional church’s agape love has gone way too intimate in recent years.
Last week a man from Nyamandlovu in Matabeleland allegedly killed his wife in a fit of jealousy after a church mate greeted her. After allegedly committing the crime, he lied that she had been killed by robbers.
Elvis Ngwenya appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Sithembiso Ndlovu facing a murder charge.
Prosecuting, Mr McLean Ndlovu said: “Ngwenya was in company of his late wife Ms Primrose Ncube who had disembarked the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls train at the railway station in Nyamandlovu.”
The court heard Ngwenya got angry when a male church mate greeted his wife.
“The now deceased met her male church mate and had a conversation, in the presence of her husband.”
“After the church mate left, Ngwenya highlighted that he did not like the church mate’s approach to his wife and this led to a misunderstanding arising between husband and wife,” said Mr Ndlovu.
“Ngwenya in frustration assaulted the deceased all over her body with booted feet. She bled through the nose and mouth and sustained a swollen face.”
The court heard at around 6 am the next day Ms Ncube died due to the injuries.
“After the assault Ngwenya took the deceased to the bush and on the next day he claimed they had been robbed,” he said.
“Clothes that were worn by the deceased were found with Ngwenya. They had bloodstains,” said the prosecutor.
This is a wretched case we detest to employ as a precedent because it involves the loss of a sacred life. But that what this magazine is all about, creating conversations about should be or should not be reported.
Today in church or outside, people kiss (greet with a holy kiss) or hug, others shake hands, others just nod and most of us, either aware or unaware of these exuberant pop-cultural greetings, are obliged to participate in it so much. Some may not be the ones to give intimate greetings to people we do not know and especially do not seek out physical contact but you will figure out that it is prudent to conform.
So, the biggest question we want to pose is, has the agape love of the original church assumed an erotic intent beneath it in the contemporary church? Has it become too intimate that its now making saints appear evil or like perverts?