During the ten-hour celebration of Aretha Franklin’s life at her funeral Friday there was just one discordant note — the eulogy.
Now, the singer’s family has come out and publicly denounced Rev. Jasper Williams Jr.’s speech as “offensive and distasteful.”
Williams Jr. caused outrage on social media when he spent most of his 50-minute rambling speech slamming black males for having “lost their souls.”
“No, black lives do not matter,” Williams said at the time. “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.”
Apparently that outrage extended into the Franklin home. The soul icon, Vaughn Franklin, issued a statement condemning Williams Jr.’s remarks on behalf of the family: “Rev. Jasper Williams spent more than 50 minutes speaking and at no time did he properly eulogize [Aretha].
“We feel that Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. used this platform to push his negative agenda, which as a family, we do not agree with.”
Williams, who previously eulogized Franklin’s father, has not apologized for his remarks.
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