Ariana Grande’s dress shows lack of respect at Aretha’s funeral
Detroit pastor apologizes to Grande for inappropriate behavior, comment
The church is often one place where dress codes matter. A butt-skimming mini skirt will get you ushered to a back pew, where someone's grandmother hands you a coat to put over your legs.
Someone forgot to tell Ariana Grande about appropriate funeral attire at Friday's services for Aretha Franklin. She wore a black mini-dress that hit inches above mid-thigh.
Well, actually just inches below the butt.
Yes, the lines of appropriateness are blurred with casual dress codes. And Grande is a young pop star who relies on revealing clothing to help sell her music and image. She frequently wears mini dresses onstage.
But conservative attire is traditionally the uniform at most places of worship, especially a church with deep roots like Franklin's. It's not the place for ultra-short miniskirts, plunging necklines, sagging pants or really anything you wear to bed or to a club.
It's even more conservative at a funeral, which is why Grande's mini dress is so out of place and inappropriate. Youth is no excuse in this case. She could have dropped the skirt a few inches and been OK. It would have been appropriate and still looked youthful.
This isn't the first time Grande has been inappropriate. In 2015, she was caught on camera licking a donut she hadn't paid for and saying, "I hate America." She later apologized.
Grande performed her song, "God is a Woman," on the MTV Video Music Awards to mixed reactions. Though she sang "Natural Woman" with soul, the Twitterverse wasn't kind about her dress. (See photo gallery for comments.)
But it wasn't Grande's dress that caused the most public outcry. It was the comment and behavior of pastor Charles H. Ellis III, who called the singer to the podium to honor her as "an icon."
"I've got to apologize because I have to brush up," he said shortly after calling Grande to the podium. "My 28-year-old daughter tells me, 'Dad, you are old at 60.' When I saw Ariana Grande on the program, I thought that was a new something at Taco Bell. Girl, let me give you all your respect."
As he joked about Grande, who is Italian American, he hugged her with his arm, high above her waist grazing her breast. Grande appeared uncomfortable and leaning away.
In an interview with the Associated Press on Friday, Ellis, the pastor of the 6,000-member Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, apologized.
"I personally and sincerely apologize to Ariana and to her fans and to the whole Hispanic community," Ellis said. "When you're doing a program for nine hours, you try to keep it lively, you try to insert some jokes here and there."
He told the AP that any inappropriate touch was incidental and that he had hugged all the performers, male and female.
"It would never be my intention to touch any woman's breast. ... I don't know; I guess I put my arm around her," Ellis said, adding: "Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar, but again, I apologize."
Yet, still the apology was not enough for many on social media.
