Filed under: Music, News, Celeb Updates
Yesterday (Dec.8) news broke that Aretha Franklin is suffering from pancreatic cancer. The Queen of Soul has been resting and recovering from an unspecified medical surgery last week, but one of her close friends took it upon himself to broadcast a private conversation with Franklin on the radio and internet.
Former chart-topping R&B crooner Keith Washington, whose hit single, 'Kissing You,' earned him a Grammy Award nomination in 1992, hosts his own local Detroit radio show 'Kisses After Dark' on WDMK/105.9 Kiss FM.
A YouTube clip was serviced by the radio station, which is dated Dec.8, and shows Washington having a phone conversation with the multiple Grammy Award-winning Queen of Soul.
"Is there any possible way that I could, at your discretion, just get a brief interview with you because all of your fans have just been calling the station, so concerned," he asked Franklin.
She responded, "When I feel better, Keith."
When probed, "But, you are OK?"
The 'Chain of Fools' singer replied, "We're waiting for confirmation from the doctors."
A source close to Franklin tells BlackVoices.com that Washington and Franklin are friends. "He obviously had access to her and was on the phone with her," the insider snitched. "He calls himself a friend of hers. It was wrong Aretha didn't know she was getting taped.""
The two are also seen in pictures together on his Facebook page.
After the former Warner Bros. recording artists hung up the phone with Franklin, he is heard telling someone in the studio, "Just talking to her right now and hearing her say they are waiting for certain things is kind of touchy and becomes sensitive to me because if there was nothing wrong, they wouldn't be waiting on results."
"I love her unconditionally and she's like a sister and always has been," he added.
Washington then also appeared on Detroit's FOX2 local news to report the status on Franklin's health.
"I know everyone has been concerned with Aretha, but she's doing good, man. We just need everyone to really pray," he said on the clip below.
Neither Washington nor radio station brass at WDMK/105.9 Kiss FM responded to queries to BlackVoices.com at by deadline today. Franklin's current spokeswoman Tracy Jordan would not comment on the debacle.
As previously reported, an unnamed family member told a local television news outlet that Franklin has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Another relative said the family is very concerned.
The controversial clip has been restricted on YouTube but is still available on the web.
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