Aretha Franklin’s family slams pastor for ‘offensive’ eulogy

Aretha Franklin’s family has condemned comments made during the singer’s eulogy last week as “offensive and distasteful.”

The “Queen of Soul” died August 16 at the age of 76 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. at Aretha Franklin's funeral.

The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., senior pastor of Salem Baptist Church, delivered Franklin’s eulogy at her funeral at Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple on Friday.

Family, friends, musicians and religious and political leaders attended the “celebration of life” service, which was also live-streamed, with portions broadcast by major networks.

In his eulogy, Williams spoke on the state of black America, saying it had lost its soul and that Franklin was calling on her race to turn its direction around.

Williams referenced black-on-black crime and killings in particular.

“If you choose to ask me today ‘do Black Lives Matter?’ let me answer like this: No, black lives do not matter. 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,” he said.

Commenting on solo parenting, he said: “A black woman cannot raise a black boy to be a man.”

“Right in your own neighborhoods, where your church is, there are struggling single moms, that don’t know what to do. That needs a man in the house through mentoring programs and parenting our children, we can turn black America around,” he said. “The Queen of Soul has spoken now, time now for black America to come back home.”

Franklin had four sons, the first of whom was born when she was 12 years old.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Aretha Franklin lies in her casket Tuesday at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, which is in Detroit.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Pallbearers carry Franklin's casket out of Greater Grace Temple at the end of her funeral service on Friday. Mourners made their way through the center of the church as Jennifer Holliday and the Aretha Franklin Celebration Choir performed Franklin's hit "Climbing Higher Mountains."

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Stevie Wonder performs at Franklin's funeral on Friday. He began by playing the harmonica before singing, "I'll Be Loving You Always."

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Jennifer Hudson sings "Amazing Grace" at Franklin's funeral on Friday.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Former US President Bill Clinton praised the values and virtues Franklin lived by and said, "She cared about broken people." He then put his phone to the microphone and played Franklin's 1968 hit "Think," which features Franklin singing about freedom.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Singer Chaka Khan performs at Franklin's funeral on Friday. She sang "I'm Going Up Yonder," which was originally sung by Tramaine Hawkins in 1994.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Jordan Franklin, Franklin's grandson, pauses alongside his sister Victorie while speaking at the funeral on Friday.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Ariana Grande performs Franklin's hit "Natural Woman" during Franklin's funeral service on Friday.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attends Franklin's funeral on Friday.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Former President Bill Clinton talks with the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Friday.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Faith Hill was the first celebrity performer to sing during Franklin's funeral on Friday. Hill performed "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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From left, Louis Farrakhan, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson attend Franklin's funeral.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Dozens of pink Cadillac owners lined up outside the Greater Grace Temple for Franklin's funeral on Friday. They were honoring Franklin's 1985 hit single "Freeway of Love" -- specifically the verse "We goin' ridin' on the freeway of love in my pink Cadillac."

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Franklin's body is driven away from the New Bethel Baptist Church after a final public viewing in Detroit on Thursday. The church was once led by her father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Jesse Jackson greets Aretha Franklin fans outside the New Bethel Baptist Church.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Fans gather outside the New Bethel Baptist Church for a chance to say farewell on Thursday.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Fans take pictures outside New Bethel Baptist Church.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Well-wishers left handwritten notes on boards outside the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Vincent Street wipes down Franklin's casket on Wednesday.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Fans line up to view Franklin's body on Wednesday.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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A fan takes a photograph while waiting to view Franklin's body.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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Hundreds of members of Delta Sigma Theta pay their respects to Franklin on Tuesday. Franklin was made an honorary member of the sorority in 1992.

Photos: In pictures: Saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin

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A fan is overcome with emotion at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

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‘Negative agenda’

“Rev. Jasper Williams spent more than 50 minutes speaking and at no time did he properly eulogize her [Aretha Franklin],” Franklin’s nephew, Vaughn Franklin, said in a statement issued on behalf of the family Monday.

“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 said.

He said Williams had been asked to speak because he had eulogized Aretha Franklin’s father as well as her brother and sister.

“My aunt did not ask Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. to eulogize her before she passed away because dying is a topic that she never discussed with anyone,” Franklin said.

“However, there were several people that my aunt admired that would have been outstanding individuals to deliver her eulogy including Dr. William J. Barber, Rev. Al Sharpton, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Rev. James Holley and Pastor E.L. Branch.”

Williams addresses critics

Addressing criticism of his eulogy at a news conference given before the Franklin family released its statement, Williams stood by his words, saying Aretha Franklin had chosen and trusted him to speak and that he wanted her life to continue beyond the funeral.

Williams said he did not mean that single mothers were unable to raise their children.

“I’m talking about many single women struggling to raise their children and in the black community there is no mentoring for the children. And that when a boy is there, for example, and 70+% of our households are headed by our precious women and as precious, beautiful and proud as they are, they cannot teach a boy how to be a man,” he said.

“So one of the ails and ills that we have in the African American community is that too many of our homes are headed by women without men in the house,” the pastor said. “But the women need help in their homes and our race needs to become sensitive to that to be able to do that.”

Addressing Black Lives Matter, Williams echoed the comments he made in the eulogy.

“I’m saying that when we as a race sit back and get mad, if a police officer kills one of us, and we don’t say anything when 100 of us are killed by us that something is wrong with that. I’m not saying that black lives do not matter in terms of the worth of a black life, but what I’m saying in essence is that it does not matter, ought not matter, should not matter, cannot matter until black people begin to – Aretha – R-E-S-P-E-C-T, respect black lives. Only then will black lives matter.”

Asked whether he thought Franklin would have approved of his eulogy, Williams said: “Because of the great contributor that she 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.”