The family members of Aretha Franklin claimed that they were being excluded from the making of the late singer's biopic.
Through her Tik Tok video, captured by Christian Headlines, Franklin's granddaughter, Grace, revealed that the team behind "Genius: Aretha" denied the family's request to be involved in the making of the musician's drama series.
"As the immediate family, we feel that it's important to be involved with any biopic of my grandma's life, as it's hard to get any accurate depiction of anyone's life without speaking to the ones closest to them. During the process of writing, directing, and filming this movie, we've reached out to Genius as a family on multiple occasions where we have been disrespected and told we will not be worked with," she said.
"As the immediate family - emphasis on immediate - we do not support this film and we ask that you also do not support this film, as we feel extremely disrespected, and we feel there will be many inaccuracies about my grandmother's life," she continued.
Franklin's son, Kecalf, also spoke about the issue to Rolling Stone, stating his observations of the production team and that they have doubts about the content of the series.
According to BBC, National Geographic contended that it had permission to produce the film from Franklin's estate, a separate entity following disputes over the singer's will. It added that the series intends to pay a "tribute to Aretha's genius - something we hope we can all celebrate." The channel further said that it will "respect Ms. Franklin in every aspect of the series."
The eight-part mini-series, "Genius: Aretha", premiered on March 21. Franklin was portrayed by Cynthia Erivo.
Aretha Louise was born in Memphis, Tennessee on March 25, 1942. His father, Rev. Clarence La Vaughan Franklin, is a Baptist preacher, while her mother, Barbara Siggers, is a gospel singer. Her parents separated when she was six and her mother would die of heart attack four years later.
She started singing at her father's church, being a gifted pianist and a singer as well. At 14, she had already recorded gospel songs. Through a small label, the album, "Songs of Faith", was released in 1956.
Franklin also performed in his father's revival tour where she met gospel singers Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and Clara Ward.
She became a young mother at 14, to Clarence. Two years later, she gave birth to Edward. Both bore her surname. She would later have two more sons, Ted White, Jr. and Kecalf Cunningham.
In 1960, she signed with Columbia Records and released the album, "Aretha" in 1961. Citing moderate success on her recordings and failure to showcase her immense talent, she signed with Atlantic in 1966, motivated by her new husband and manager, Ted White.
She dominated the charts which earned her the title, Queen of Soul.
Her success continued until the 1970s. But her sound gradually faded following the rise of the disco craze. Her chart failures ended her career with Atlantic in 1979. She signed with Arista Records and recovered from her waning popularity, following the release of her album, "Jump To It", in 1982, that became a big success.
In 1985, she returned topping the charts. She was the first female artist to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
Franklin won 18 Grammys, making her one of the most honored artists in its history.
In 2017, she announced her retirement in a Detroit radio station but said that she cannot just do nothing, so she was working with Stevie Wonder to collaborate on a new album. But she passed away before they could record the song, "The Future", which Wonder had written himself.
Franklin died of pancreatic cancer on August 16, 2018.
