Ariana Grande Fans Express Concern Following Pastor Groping During Aretha Franklin’s Funeral
Ariana Grande performed “Natural Woman” as part of Aretha Franklin’s funeral ceremony. The 25-year-old pop singer has since made media headlines for several different reasons following the performance. Some believe Bill Clinton was gawking at Ariana during the performance, some believe Bishop Charles H. Ellis III groped the young singer when he introduced and welcomed her, and some believe Grande’s choice in dress was not appropriate for a funeral setting.
The Inquisitr previously reported the pastor had come forward to apologize after the awkward incident noting that he may have been too friendly with Ariana, but it was never his intention to touch her inappropriately. Netflix’s Luke Cage star Mike Colter also recently issued an apology after Twitter users slammed him for responding to the groping in a sarcastic manner and appearing to condone the pastor’s actions, the Inquisitr reported in a separate piece.
One thing that has been missing from headlines and social media is Ariana herself. What does the singer think about what happened during the funeral? How is she currently feeling? These are questions fans of Grande are beginning to ask on her social media profiles. Some of her 57.3 million followers on Twitter and 126 million followers on Instagram have even started fighting on her recent posts about what happened.
“It would never be my intention to touch any woman’s breast,” Bishop Charles H. Ellis III said. “Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar but again, I apologize.” https://t.co/zdFzRukjtX
— New York Times Music (@nytimesmusic) September 2, 2018
In a tweet Ariana made just shy of 24 hours ago saying “love u so much,” her fans have begun to swarm the comments section questioning whether the singer was alright. With over 8,000 responses, hashtags such as “#RespectAriana” have begun to gain traction.
One Twitter user pointed out that anyone looking at Ariana’s facial expressions or body language could see the singer was uncomfortable with the situation.
Her microexpresions say it all, she may have been saying all is fine with her words and trying to act "normal" but her face and body language said otherwise, he knew what was he doing. #RespectAriana #TimeIsUp pic.twitter.com/IhrPXlJmCn
— Melly (@Melly_ci) September 2, 2018
Other users believed the pastor’s comment about mistaking the young singer for an item on the Taco Bell menu belittled her before he inappropriately touched her.
One took the time to slam those defending the pastor by saying the hand placement was an accident.
WAKE UP PEOPLE she looks so uncomfortable here and ya know what? He is so disgusting, he groped her many times and people still "it was an accident" omg those who say that can keep your opinion away bcs yall are toxic asf. Every woman deserves to be treated nicely #RespectAriana pic.twitter.com/40Hzepprsu
— soloist jisoo is coming ? (@highclassjennie) September 1, 2018
The user noted Ariana looked extremely uncomfortable and if it was an accident, why did his hand linger for so long?
Many of Ariana’s followers have started to go to war with some users who claimed Ariana’s inappropriate dress was “asking for it” to happen as it was not proper funeral attire. Grande’s fans and followers continue to slam these statements noting that it doesn’t matter what any woman is wearing, no one asks to be an assault victim.
Grande has also received a bit of criticism from some individuals questioning why the singer didn’t speak up when it happened if she felt violated. On both her Twitter and her Instagram, her fans came to her defense explain that you tend to freeze up when something of this nature happens. Moreover, some speculated the pop sensation didn’t say anything out of respect for Aretha because she didn’t want to make the funeral about herself.
Regardless of your take on whether the pastor actually groped Ariana or not, her fans and followers appear to be on pins and needles as they wait for confirmation that the singer is alright.
