Al Sharpton on Sunday invoked his late friend and legendary singer Aretha Franklin, who died Thursday at the age of 76, and her iconic version of the song “Respect” during a segment criticizing President Donald Trump’s comments about former White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman on MSNBC. Unfortunately, however, Sharpton misspelled the titular word.
During a segment in which he critiqued Trump’s usage of the word “dog” to criticize Manigault-Newman, Sharpton said, “In the words of my late friend Aretha Franklin, show some ‘R-E-S-P-I-C-T.'”
Released in 1967, Franklin’s cover of the Otis Redding song “Respect” famously features a chorus in which the singer spells out the word. Sharpton’s flub came at the end of his segment dedicated to Trump’s feud with Manigault-Newman.
In an essay for Billboard, Sharpton, who was friends with Franklin, recalled her history as a civil rights activist. “There are superstars, and then there are humanitarians — Aretha somehow encapsulated both,” he wrote.
Sharpton has never been quiet in his criticism of Trump, previously having called him a “blowhard” and an “embarrassment.”
