Aretha blasts Dionne Warwick but she declines to fire back

NEW YORK (AP) — The Queen of Soul is coming out swinging against fellow legend Dionne Warwick, accusing her of making up a story that she was Whitney Houston’s godmother, even though the alleged offense happened five years ago at Houston’s funeral.

Aretha Franklin said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday that Warwick made a “libelous” statement against her at the funeral. At the time, Warwick told funeral-goers that Franklin was there and introduced her, but then realized she wasn’t in attendance, so she said Franklin loved Houston and was her godmother. Franklin said saying she was Houston’s godmother when she wasn’t in attendance made her look bad.

Franklin said she wanted to dispute it but wanted to wait until the time was right.

Warwick declined to comment.

NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Entertainment Writer