We all know Auntie Wendy does not mince her words. Neither did the late great singing legend Aretha Franklin. Franklin’s family have come to her defense over scathing comments Williams made about the upcoming film Amazing Grace. The movie sees The Queen of Soul recording her iconic 1972 gospel album.
“They Will Be Paying The Bills With This”
During her hot topics segment, Williams told her loyal co-hosts she was not too fussed about seeing the film.
“When you don’t have real professional people doing real professional things for you, sometimes you lose out…” Williams said about the film during Friday’s episode. “Nobody’s going to the movies to see a one-shot deal, like black-and-white.” She also added, “I would imagine that now the bill collectors are like, ‘OK, rest in peace, Aretha Franklin. But we still need our money for this, we need money for that. So by putting this movie out, I would say the estate is probably going to be paying bills with this.”
There Is No “Cousin Junebug”
Franklin’s estate quickly clapped back, according to a statement obtained by the Detroit Free Press.
“While Franklin had initially imposed an injunction on ‘Amazing Grace,’ her objections had nothing to do with its quality; negotiations were incomplete at the time of her death,” the statement read. “In addition, the film’s director, Sydney Pollock, didn’t use one camera — there were five.”
Williams also made fun of the fact that Franklin relied on her family to take care of her career affairs. She suggested that Amazing Grace be sold to a production company to package it and make it more entertaining.
However Wendy joked, “Don’t let cousin Junebug do the contracts!”
The Franklin family estate shot back, “Contrary to Williams’ derisive reference, there is no ‘Cousin Junebug’ making decisions for the Estate.”
