Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Barack and Michelle Obama Just Posted Powerful Tributes to Aretha Franklin, and People Are Getting Emotional

Barack and Michelle Obama Just Posted Powerful Tributes to Aretha Franklin, and People Are Getting Emotional
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: US President Barack Obama fist bumps with singer Aretha Franklin who sung during a farwell ceremony for Attorney General Eric Holder at the Justice Department February 27, 2015 in Washington, DC. The ceremony was held to unveil the Attorney Generals official portrait and commemorate his tenure before his expected departure from the department after more than six years of service. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

We're not crying, you're crying.

Make us preferred on Google

Former President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama tweeted touching tributes to soul legend Aretha Franklin, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 76 after battling pancreatic cancer.

"May the Queen of Soul rest in eternal peace."


The 44th president said Franklin, whose voice resonated behind the Civil Rights movement, "helped define the American experience."

"In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade—our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect," Obama wrote.

Obama also posted to Facebook.

"America has no royalty," the former president wrote. "But we do have a chance to earn something more enduring."

"She will forever be our Queen of Soul."

The former FLOTUS said listening to Franklin "made time stand still," and that she and her husband "are holding Aretha’s family in our hearts right now."

President Donald Trump also recognized Franklin's passing on Twitter.

A few hours later following a cabinet meeting, Trump managed to make Frankin's death about him, adding that Franklin had "worked for me on numerous occasions." Yes, really.

Twitter responded to the Obamas' tributes with reverence and grief.

"Please come back."

"This tweet is poetry. Both of your voices are missed."

"You are true class."

"And that fabulous hat!"

Here's how Hillary Clinton honored Franklin.

Replies to Trump, on the other hand, were far less cordial.

"Cold."

"You won't be missed." Ouch.

Oh, Donald.

Awkward.

More from People

Screenshot of Mark Carney; Donald Trump
@sarobertson_/X; Aaron Schwartz/AFP via Getty Images

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Trolls Trump With Perfect 'Conspiracy' Joke After Technical Glitch During Speech

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had people laughing after he made a clever "conspiracy" joke aimed at President Donald Trump after his teleprompter cut out mid-speech on Wednesday.

Carney was addressing the press and supporters as part of his government's pledge to build more rental homes. A press release announced that "over the next three years, Canada’s new government, in partnership with the City of Toronto, will invest over $2.7 billion to build more than 18 housing projects across Toronto."

Keep ReadingShow less
Al-Nassr player Cristiano Ronaldo (2nd L) and Georgina Rodriguez (L) attend the Globe Soccer Dubai Awards 2024.
Waleed Zein/Anadolu via Getty Images

Cristiano Ronaldo's Fiancée Pens Classy Response After Unedited Bikini Pics Spark Body-Shaming Comments

A relaxing getaway in Mallorca took an unexpected turn after candid, unedited photos of Georgina Rodríguez with Cristiano Ronaldo and his 16-year-old son, Cristiano Jr., aboard a yacht sparked a wave of body-shaming comments.

You can see the paparazzi pics below:

Keep ReadingShow less
Nurse Hadley Vlahos
@nursehadley/TikTok

TikToker Speaks Out About Just How Difficult It Is To Get A Divorce In Mississippi—And Wow

While we're well into the 21st century, it's becoming increasingly difficult in the United States for women to execute what should be basic social rights, like getting a divorce. But states like Mississippi and most of the "Bible Belt" are making it practically impossible for people like Nurse Hadley Vlahos to fully separate from a former partner.

Though Vlahos is known on TikTok and YouTube for being a hospice nurse and wrote about end-of-life care in her New York Times bestselling book, The In-Between with How to Let Go to follow, she's now dedicating much more of her platform to documenting her three-year process of just filing for divorce, not including all that happened in the years before and in the year and a half since.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Donald Trump
C-SPAN

Trump's Bonkers Quip About What He'd Do If He Coached In The WNBA Just Resurfaced—And It's A Doozy

President Donald Trump is raising eyebrows again after a resurfaced clip showed him trying to bring NBA star LeBron James into the debate around transgender athletes while mocking the WNBA.

The WNBA has been at the center of controversy after Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham said she wants "to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” She called her beliefs "common sense," stressing that "it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category."

Keep ReadingShow less
Billie Eilish
Savion Washington/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Photos Of Billie Eilish From Her Upcoming Movie Just Dropped—And Fans Barely Recognize Her

The latest film adaptation of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar is led by Women Talking and Splice director Sarah Polley.

As of March, Billie Eilish was cast in the leading role, Esther Greenwood, who goes through a form of mental burnout and psychosis over the course of the book, with a plot that becomes increasingly unhinged and unreliable.

Keep ReadingShow less