This morning we lost our Queen of Soul and formidable sequin icon Aretha Franklin at age 76. Fox News aired a tribute for her, only to feature a photo of the other Queen of Soul Patti LaBelle in the corner. Twitter was quick to point this out.

I’d like to imagine Aretha is up in heaven smoking a cig and PISSED.

This is not the first time a famous black person has been mistaken for another. Tyrese Gibson was mixed up with Taye Diggs by Deadline. In January the Grammys aired a commercial featuring some other black dude that was not Childish Gambino. In May I wrote about how E! couldn’t identify Travis Scott, whose Astroworld just had "THE SECOND BIGGEST DEBUT OF 2018" and who has a goddamn child with Kylie Jenner.

I’m sure there are (white) people who will argue, Why is this a big deal? That’s an easy mistake to make.

You know how this problem could easily be solved? Hiring more black people.

*Update*

Fox News has issued a lame non-apology:

“We sincerely apologize to Aretha Franklin’s family and friends,” spokeswoman Jessica Santostefano said in a statement. “Our intention was to honor the icon using a secondary image of her performing with Patti LaBelle in the full screen graphic, but the image of Ms. Franklin was obscured in that process, which we deeply regret.”

Header image credit: Shutterstock

#ArethaFranklin #PattiLaBelle #FoxNews #Racism