A bishop in the US has apologised after being accused of inappropriately touching singer Ariana Grande during Aretha Franklin's funeral.
Bishop Charles H Ellis III was widely criticised on social media after appearing to touch the side of the 25-year-old performer's breast during the seven-hour funeral service in Detroit yesterday.
Ms Grande had been on stage to perform Franklin's (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.
What was up with that pastors hand? pic.twitter.com/M8Ypgm7fQB
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) August 31, 2018
The incident prompted the hashtag #RespectAriana to go viral on Twitter, with some commentators describing the touch as 'inappropriate'.
Responding to the concerns, Bishop Ellis told the Associated Press: "It would never be my intention to touch any woman's breast... I don't know I guess I put my arm around her.
"Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar but again, I apologise."
He stressed that he hugged and shook hands with all performers on the day.
He added: "The last thing I want to do is to be a distraction to this day. This is all about Aretha Franklin."
The bishop also apologised for making a joke about seeing Ms Grande's name on the programme and thinking it was a new item on the menu at Taco Bell, the US fast food Tex-Mex chain.
He said: "I personally and sincerely apologise to Ariana and to her fans and to the whole Hispanic community.
"When you're doing a programme for nine hours you try to keep it lively, you try to insert some jokes here and there."
