Why Is Aretha Franklin Still SO Mad at Dionne Warwick About Whitney’s Funeral?

Aretha Franklin is pissed at Dionne Warwick over a 5 year-old beef that happened at Whitney Houston‘s funeral. Franklin told the AP.

“She blatantly lied on me … fully well knowing what she was doing.”

Franklin called The Associated Press on Tuesday, after sending a LONG fax the day before. At Houston’s funeral Warwick told funeral-goers that Franklin was there and introduced her, but then realized she wasn’t in attendance.

“‘Ree’s not here, but she is here. She loves Whitney as if she were born to her. She is her godmother.”

At the time, Franklin said she was suffering from swollen feet and had to skip the funeral so she could perform later that night at Radio City Music Hall in New York, which she said she was contractually obligated to do.

Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mother, said after the funeral that Franklin was NOT Houston’s godmother (it’s actually another legend, Darlene Love), Franklin felt the comment was damaging to her and planned to address it at a later date.

“There’s been so much going on around her (Houston), around the service, around the drugs, around her and Bobby (Brown) supposed to be fighting, I didn’t want to add anything to that and I didn’t want to be a part of that.”

The story that Houston was Franklin’s goddaughter has been around for decades, Franklin said she first met Houston when Houston was a child — and she was too busy to be anyone’s godmother.

Franklin saw Warwick last week at the Tribeca Film Festival’s premiere of the documentary, Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives, and she also performed. Franklin said Warwick tried to talk to her backstage.

“She said, ‘Give me a hug.’ I said, ‘Oh hell no. You couldn’t be serious.’”

I don’t care about her apology, at this point it isn’t about an apology, it’s about libel.

We’ve never been friends and I don’t think that Dionne has ever liked me.”

Asked for comment, Warwick’s rep Angelo Ellerbee said: