Ariana Grande delivered a mesmerizing tribute to the late Aretha Franklin at her Aug. 31 funeral by singing her trademark hit “Natural Woman.” Pastor Charles Ellis III then called her up onstage to praise her as “an icon herself” while putting his arm around her and his hand touched her breast. Whether or not it was an accident, the apparent groping left Ari, 25, looking shocked and horribly uncomfortable. Her fiance Pete Davidson, 24, is devastated that he couldn’t have jumped in to save her, as he was sitting in right there the audience as it went down.
“What should have been a tribute to the life of Aretha Franklin has become a whole different thing. It’s now an unneeded and unwanted spectacle with what the Pastor did to her and with people joking about what Bill Clinton’s reactions were during her performance. Pete doesn’t really care about the reactions of Bill Clinton, he can joke that off, but he definitely is mad over seeing the pastor making her feel very uncomfortable,” a source close to the Saturday Night Live player tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. Ariana wore a super short black mini dress that grazed the top of her thighs, and during her performance the 72-year-old former president was caught starting at her backside while seated on the dais behind Ariana.
“Pete wanted to go up on stage and save her but things happened so fast and he didn’t want to make it more of a scene then it was when everyone was there for Aretha. He was really stuck between a rock and a hard place and he hopes everyone can move on from everything that happened and stick with what they day was about instead of everything else that came from it,” our insider adds.
What was up with that pastors hand?
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) August 31, 2018
Pastor Ellis has since apologized, telling the Associated Press that “It would never be my intention to touch any woman’s breast. . . . I don’t know; I guess I put my arm around her. Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar, but again, I apologize.” He had called her back up onstage to praise her performance and held on tight to the singer. Ariana was clearly upset and agitated with the way he was holing on to her, trying to push her body away from his but Pastor Ellis kept clinging on with his hand on the side of her breast.
