Family, friends, and fans mourned the loss of Aretha Franklin during an 8-hour funeral on Friday at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, Michigan. While the service was meant to celebrate the “Queen of Soul’s” life and career, her family is speaking out against Rev. Jasper Williams, Jr.’s eulogy for the singer.
Williams, senior pastor of Salem Bible Church in Atlanta, angered Franklin’s family and many of her fans when he moved from talking about her life to talking about more political matters such as Black Lives Matter.
“If you choose to ask me today, ‘Do black lives matter?’ Let me answer like this: No. Black lives do not matter,” Williams said. “Black lives will not matter. Black lives ought not matter. Black lives should not matter. Black lives must not matter. Until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves, black lives can never matter.
Williams also lamented the number of single mothers there were in the country, despite the fact that Franklin herself raised four boys.
“Seventy percent of our households are led by our precious, proud, fine black women. But as proud, beautiful and fine as our black women are, one thing a black woman cannot do—a black woman cannot raise a black boy to be a man,” Williams stated.
Franklin’s nephew, Vaughn Franklin, and other family members have since spoken out to media about how disappointed they were with Williams’ eulogy. According to CNN, Vaughn Franklin was angry that Williams hardly spoke about his aunt during his 50-minute eulogy.
"We feel that Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. used this platform to push his negative agenda, which as a family, we do not agree with," Vaughn Franklin stated.
Following the backlash, Williams defended his eulogy to CNN.
"Because of the great contributor that [Franklin] was to the civil rights movement and all that she gave, I would think that if I'm doing something to turn black America around, that she would be pleased,” Williams said.
The completely eulogy can be found here.