Rev. Al Sharpton took a swipe at President Trump Friday during Aretha Franklin’s funeral, once against imploring the president to learn the meaning of the Queen of Soul’s most famous lyric: “Respect.”
“You know, the other Sunday on my show, I misspelled ‘Respect,’ and a lot of y’all corrected me,” Sharpton said during the service in Detroit, Mich. “Now, I want y’all to help me correct President Trump to teach him what it means.”
“And I say that because when word went out that Ms. Franklin passed, Trump said ‘she used to work for me,'” the MSNBC host continued. “No, she used to perform for you. She worked for us. Aretha never took orders from nobody, but God.”
Al Sharpton had a message for President Trump after he publicly stated that Aretha Franklin worked for him: “No, she used to perform for you. She worked for us.” https://t.co/WO7cDmAHYr pic.twitter.com/pb23YjnvTl
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 31, 2018
Trump raised eyebrows shortly after news of Franklin’s death broke on Aug. 16 because of comments he made alluding to how the iconic singer-songwriter had worked for him “on numerous occasions.” Social media users offered questions over when the artist had been employed by the president, other than some performances she gave at his casinos.
During the Aug. 19 episode of his Sunday morning show, Sharpton misspelled “respect” while criticizing Trump for his incendiary remarks about Omarosa Manigault Newman. The president had described the fired White House aide and former “The Apprentice” star as a “dog” amid her controversial Unhinged book tour.
“I think you might’ve learned the lesson this week, sometimes the dog bites back with a book deal,” Sharpton said, directing his comments at Trump. “So in the words of my late friend Aretha Franklin, show some R-E-S-P-I-C-T.”
Sharpton doubled-downed Friday on his efforts to press upon Trump the importance of treating people well as he eulogized Franklin at the Greater Grace Temple.
“She never shamed us. She never disgraced us. She never made us make excuses for her,” Sharpton added of Franklin. “She represented the best in our community, and fought for our community until the end.”
Franklin died at the age of 76 following a protracted fight with pancreatic cancer.
