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  • The Atlantic

    Madonna’s Tone-Deaf Tribute to Aretha Franklin

    At the MTV VMAs, the big memorial for the Queen of Soul came in the form of lengthy self-mythologizing by the Queen of Pop.
    by Spencer Kornhaber Aug 21, 2018 4 minutes
    Source: Lucas Jackson / Reuters

    “Some skinny-ass white girl is going to come up here and belt out a song by one of the greatest soul singers that ever lived?”

    This is what some talent scouts thought when a pre-fame Madonna, Louise Ciccone, asked to sing Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” at an audition. Or at least this is what Madonna assumes they were thinking. In a speech allegedly paying tribute to the Queen of Soul at Monday night’s MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna delivered the “skinny-ass white girl” line with a smirk, rendering it a double entendre that also referenced what

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