Aretha Franklin’s highly publicized funeral was probably the most talked about event on television last week. Viewers paid such close attention to most of the details in the funeral, not even the smallest aspects were missed. So, when it was Rev. Jasper Williams, Jr.’s turn to take the pulpit and deliver the eulogy, the seemingly offensive tone of his message wasn’t missed either.
Not only were fans angry about quite a few of his remarks, the “Queen of Soul’s” family wasn’t too pleased with the message either. In fact, people have been so taken aback by his words, he’s now facing heightened criticism for his alleged disrespect of the Queen.
Off Subject and Out the Box:
According to Madame Noire, the Franklin family has made it clear they were not pleased with Williams words. The epic funeral was supposed to be a time of celebration, honor, and homage for those who loved Aretha to gather and pay their respects. The family feels like Williams, the pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta, did the exact opposite of that by throwing subliminal jabs at the late legendary singer and the black community, overall. For those who missed the 48-minute eulogy, Williams ventured off subject to discuss a number of controversial topics including “Black Lives Matter,” black-on-black crime, and politics.
“If you choose to ask me today ‘do Black Lives Matter?’ let me answer like this: No, black lives do not matter. Black lives will not matter. Black lives ought not matter. Black lives should not matter, black lives must not matter until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves, black lives can never matter,” he said.
Jasper didn’t stop there. He even went a step further with an insulting statement about black women, insisting they are unable to raise black men.
“A black woman cannot raise a black boy to be a man,” he said.
For those who don’t know, ironically Aretha Franklin was once a teen mother who raised four sons. So Williams’ insulting statement about black mothers didn’t go over well with the Franklin family.
Check out the full video of Williams’ eulogy:
Blasted By the Franklin Family:
Following the funeral, the Franklin family fired back at Williams with a statement released to the Detroit Free Press. The singer’s nephew, Vaughn Franklin, reportedly released the statement on behalf of the family and made it clear they weren’t pleased and wasted no time criticizing Williams for his scathing words.
“I want to speak on behalf of the Franklin family as it relates to the comments that Rev. Jasper Williams, Jr. made on Friday during my aunt’s Celebration of Life service on Friday, August 31. We found the comments to be offensive and distasteful. Rev. Jasper Williams spent more than 50 minutes speaking and at no time did he properly eulogize her. My aunt did not ask Rev. Jasper Williams, Jr. to eulogize her before she passed away because dying is a topic that she never discussed with anyone,” the statement read.
The family continued with an explanation for Williams’ presence. Apparently, he was not someone Aretha Franklin handpicked to eulogize her, but the family felt he was a befitting choice because he’d done so for Franklin’s father and her late siblings. The family also name-dropped a few other worthy public figures who would have also done an excellent job eulogizing Aretha. But despite the options they had, they still chose him, which only makes his actions worse.
“Our family asked Rev. Jasper Williams, Jr. to perform the eulogy because he eulogized our grandfather (Rev. C. L. Franklin), my aunt (Erma Franklin) and my uncle (Cecil Franklin). However, there were several people that my aunt admired that would have been outstanding individuals to deliver her eulogy including Dr. William J. Barber, Rev. Al Sharpton, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Rev. James Holley and Pastor E.L. Branch.”
The family also speculates Williams used the public platform the funeral offered to promote his own thwarted agenda; an agenda the Franklin family does not agree with. However, Williams has made it clear he makes no apologies for his statements. It’s probably safe to say Williams won’t be delivering anymore eulogies for the Franklin family.
