MTV Video Music Awards 2018: Twitterati brand Madonna's tribute to Aretha Franklin 'disrespectful'

Madonna was set to pay tribute to the ‘Queen of Soul’ Aretha Franklin at the MTV Video Music Awards, but according to Twitterati, the speech seemed to be all about herself. [caption id=“attachment_5011841” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Madonna at the VMAs. Image via Twitter/@cahulaan[/caption] MTV asked Madonna to honour Franklin, who died on 16 August, during her introduction for the video of the year winner announcement. Most of the tribute to Franklin, however, was spent explaining the early origins of Madonna’s career, reports Variety.com. The only mention of Franklin was that Madonna sang “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman” to — ultimately unsuccessfully — audition for a song. She credited that failure with launching her into a different opportunity that led to the rest of her career. She added towards the end of her speech: “I want to thank you, Aretha, for empowering all of us. Respect. Long live the queen.” This got her mixed reactions.

(With inputs from Indo-Asian News Service)