Through no fault of her own, Ariana Grande stole (some of) the show at Aretha Franklin‘s funeral on Friday.
That’s because after Ariana’s powerful performance to memorialize the late soul music star, Bishop Charles H. Ellis III made Ariana go viral on the internet with two unacceptable things he did to her.
Related: All The Highlights From Aretha Franklin’s Funeral HERE
The first, as you can see in these snapshots of the moment it occurred (below), was when Ellis appeared to have gone too far with his hug of Grande, reaching around and groping her in the process:
What was up with that pastors hand? pic.twitter.com/M8Ypgm7fQB
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) August 31, 2018
https://twitter.com/NLiddle16/status/1035720185192361985
I'm really sorry you had to go thru that @ArianaGrande that groping was beyond blatant and we could all see and feel your discomfort. #NotCool
— Claudia Jordan (@claudiajordan) September 1, 2018
And the second issue Ellis had, if you go back to that first video we shared, was the fact that he made a horribly off-color joke about Grande being a new menu item at Taco Bell.
Yeahhhh….
Related: Nicki Minaj Thirsty For Ariana’s Pete Davidson Love!
Well after all the backlash and controversy, now, Ellis has apologized.
Following significant online backlash over his behavior to Grande, Ellis gave an apology to the media (below):
“It would never be my intention to touch any woman’s breast. … I don’t know I guess I put my arm around her. Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar but again, I apologize. 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. The last thing I want to do is to be a distraction to this day. This is all about Aretha Franklin.”
He also apologized about the Taco Bell remark, too (below):
“I personally and sincerely apologize to Ariana and to her fans and to the whole Hispanic community. When you’re doing a program for nine hours you try to keep it lively, you try to insert some jokes here and there.”
Uh… well, that’s an interesting apology, for a few reasons.
But at least he apologized? Grasping for straws here… Ellis doesn’t really come off that well, either in his initial actions, or his apology. Own it, man.
Despicable!!
[Image via YouTube.]
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