Aretha Franklin‘s eight-hour funeral in Detroit on Friday celebrated the life of the soul legend in A-list style, complete with a parade of pink Cadillacs and musical tributes from stars like Ariana Grande and Stevie Wonder. However, controversy erupted when Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, who was officiating the service, brought Grande onstage to perform in honor of the soul pioneer. As he introduced her, viewers watched in horror as he tightened a hand well above her waist—placing it instead around the side of her breast—and held her for an uncomfortably long time. After intense backlash from people shocked that they’d just apparently witnessed a woman groped in public, Bishop Ellis has now apologized, saying he didn’t intend to touch Grande inappropriately.
“It would never be my intention to touch any woman’s breast. … I don’t know I guess I put my arm around her,” Ellis said in an interview with the Associated Press. “Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar but again, I apologize.”
Ellis went on to say that he had embraced all of the performers: “I hug all the female artists and the male artists. 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.”
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Grande appeared uneasy as the bishop kept his arm on her and made a crack about her last name sounding like an item from a Taco Bell menu, a comment for which he’s also apologized.
“I personally and sincerely apologize to Ariana and to her fans and to the whole Hispanic community,” Ellis told the AP. “When you’re doing a program for nine hours you try to keep it lively, you try to insert some jokes here and there.”
Online, Twitter users were outraged: They launched a #RespectAriana hashtag and retweeted videos that captured the incident.
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After the alarming introduction, Grande launched into a stunning cover of “Natural Woman,” reprising her performance on Jimmy Fallon’s show just after Franklin’s death. However, that moment was sadly overshadowed, too, as many people noted former President Bill Clinton watching her intently from behind. Grande had drawn attention for wearing a short dress to the event, and Twitter users quickly defended her, reminding the world that a woman’s outfit is never an invitation from men.
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That these events unfolded at a funeral, of all places, is even more outrageous—especially because it was a service paying homage a woman who always lifted up women in her music. Ellis recognized that his behavior and joke had eclipsed what should have been a respectful memorial to Franklin, adding in his interview with the AP that “the last thing I want to do is to be a distraction to this day. This is all about Aretha Franklin.” Sadly, that wasn’t the case.
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