Aretha Franklin’s family is unhappy with the latest representation of the music legend.
The “Respect” singer is the theme of the third season of National Geographic’s popular anthology series, “Genius”, which will air two episodes on Tuesday and conclude the season with two more episodes on Wednesday.
Oscar nominated Cynthia Erivo plays the Queen of Soul, while Courtney B. Vance plays her father, the famous preacher CL Franklin.
“Genius: Aretha” delved deeply into the Franklin family’s dramatic past, including depictions of the musician’s ex-husband Ted White’s alleged domestic violence and CL’s alleged sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl.
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The singer’s family is dissatisfied with the series, according to Franklin’s granddaughter Grace, who shared her views in a recent TikTok post.
The clip started with Grace, 15, and a group of people including more members of Franklin’s family shouting, “This movie has to go.”
Throughout her statement, Grace refers to “Genius: Aretha” as a film rather than a miniseries, but specifically accuses the program of blaming her family.
“As an immediate family, we feel it is important to be involved in any biographical film of my grandmother’s life, as it is difficult to get an accurate description of someone’s life without talking to the people closest to them,” Grace began.
“During the process of writing, directing and filming this film, we contacted ‘Genius’ as a family on several occasions, where we were disrespected and said that we would not be worked on,” she continued. “As an immediate family – emphasis on the immediate – we do not support this film and we ask that you also do not support this film, as we feel extremely disrespected and feel that there will be many inaccuracies about my grandmother’s life. Thank you.”
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In the video caption, Grace explained that she “has no complaints with the actors / actresses in any of these films”.
Grace’s father, Kecalf, spoke to Rolling Stone recently and supported his daughter’s statement.
“What we’ve found in the past is that usually when people don’t want to work with you, it’s a prelude to some kind of unprofessional behavior or a prelude to some kind of lies or slander, so we’re not sure where we will see in this series “he said, noting that he saw nothing of” Genius “. “It’s usually the case when people say they don’t want to work with you.”
Kecalf explained that his family was in contact with “Genius” about his involvement, but the talks failed at the time when his cousin, Sabrina Garrett-Owens, resigned as representative of the property. They were repelled when they extended again, he said.
“We asked our lawyers to get in touch with them to see if we could make a contribution and see the film and say what we like and what we don’t like about it,” he shared. “And the report we received said that it was too late, production had already ended and that they did not want to work with us.”
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The miniseries began production in 2018, not long after Franklin’s death.
“I felt it was not too late, because of the length of time that the film was going to fall and also the length of time we were in contact with them,” added Kecalf. “It seems that the final editing was not done, that there was something that could have been done in that area, perhaps after we had predicted it. They sent a confidentiality agreement, but the terms of that contract, they were not giving us creative control or anything like that. So it’s like they just want us to check it out. But if we didn’t like it, then, ‘Oh, well. Excuse me’. “
Kecalf said he is not aware of any agreement between Franklin’s property and production, since the property is an entity separate from the immediate family. In addition, the property would have dealt with the licensing of Franklin’s music, so the desired involvement by the family was not financially motivated, he said.
Aretha Franklin, played by Cynthia Erivo, at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. (Credit: National Geographic / Richard DuCree)
“It is a common and decent respect for our family,” he added. “If I were to make a film about your family, I would try to talk to you, your sons, daughters, grandchildren and people like that. And we never felt that we had a chance to speak to them freely from my heart about our family member.”
NatGeo offered a statement to Fox News, acknowledging that Franklin’s family was not involved.
“We received the message from the family, listened and acknowledged their concern for the legacy of Mrs. Franklin,” said a representative of the network. “We think we have a common goal here – to honor and celebrate Aretha Franklin’s life and legacy. We can say that everyone who worked on Genius: Aretha came close telling her story with the intention of respecting Mrs. Franklin in all aspects of the series and in all the decisions we make. “
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“The studio worked diligently to obtain an endorsement of Aretha’s assets, which we are grateful to have,” the statement continued. “We worked with many people who knew Mrs. Franklin – from Clive Davis to members of her family’s property – to make sure we told her story honestly and authentically. This series is called Genius – it’s a tribute to Aretha’s genius – something that we hope we can all celebrate. One of the comments from a guest who attended our debut last week was: ‘Aretha has lived life so much … she needs 100 biopics!’ We can’t say any better! “
According to Rolling Stone, they approached their research for production in the same way as the previous two seasons, which focused on Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso.
Kecalf offered Stone another statement after reading NatGeo’s.
Aretha Franklin is played by Cynthia Erivo in ‘Genius: Aretha’. Franklin’s family clarified that they have no ill will towards Erivo.
(Getty Images)
“The Genius series deal was initiated by my cousin Sabrina Garrett-Owens and her attorney, David Bennett,” he said. “When my brothers and I first became aware of this project, the Genius series had already started production. It is our opinion that the producers of this series forgot to take the necessary measures to properly prepare for this biographical production. immediate family to produce the most authentic and honest version of that person’s life. In our opinion, the Genius series has failed. Neither me nor my brothers have ever spoken to the producers of this series. We agree that our mother’s life’s work should be celebrated, but with respect. “
Bennett, however, told Rolling Stone that the producers of “Genius” did not include Garrett-Owens in the production of the series.
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“We are not aware of what the heirs, or their representatives or the current estate management are undertaking,” he added. [Garrett-Owens’] after the resignation, all the heirs of the farm knew about the project and had the opportunity to consult the producers about their doubts or to make the consultations they wished ”.
Kecalf admitted that the studio may have “skipped a step” in a communication error, resulting in the family not being involved. He also said that while he is unaware of the participation of any family member, it is possible that some of his cousins did.
Franklin is set to be the subject of “Respect”, a biopic starring Jennifer Hudson, which was handpicked by the “Chain of Fools” singer to portray her. Kecalf said it was much easier to work with MGM on the film.
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“We are actually working with MGM and … they are trying to negotiate and work with us on their film,” he said. “I can’t really talk about it because we are still in negotiations with them.”
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NatGeo representatives Erivo and Reginald M. Turner, the lawyer representing Franklin’s estate, did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment, nor to MGM. Franklin’s family was not immediately found.