Madonna has spoken out for the first time since she received huge backlash for her Aretha Franklin speech, at the VMAS.
The singer took to the stage at the award show on Monday, where she talked about the Queen of Soul who died last week, however, she seemed to dwell only on how Aretha impacted her.
She opened her tribute to Aretha with “Aretha Louise Franklin changed the course of my life.”
“She led me to where I am today, and I know she influenced so many people in this house tonight, and I want to thank you Aretha for empowering all of us. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Long live the queen.”
Its safe to say that viewers of the show were disgusted with the singers tribute.
Madonna has now come out to defend herself, in an instagram post where she stated “Just to clarify: I was asked to present video of the year by MTV! And then they asked me to share any anecdotes I had in my career connected to Aretha Franklin!
“I shared a part of my journey and thanked Aretha for inspiring me along the way.
“I did not intend to do a tribute to her! That would be impossible in 2 minutes with all the noise and tinsel of an award show. I could never do her justice in this context or environment.”