August 21, 2018
Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul and force whose music and spirit touched the lives of many, passed away last week. One would assume that on one of the bigger nights for mainstream music, the MTV VMAs would take the time and effort to pay its respects to the star in a meaningful way.
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Instead, what viewers got were a series of seemingly half-assed attempts at "paying tribute" to one of the most important artists of our time. Below are the several instances during which the VMAs were disrespectful to Franklin's legacy.
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When Madonna paid tribute to Aretha Franklin by talking about herself
See: this post.
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When the VMAs briefly showed a photo of Franklin at the absolute end of the program
After all of the credits rolled.
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