The death of Aretha Franklin on Thursday morning has elicted an abundance of sorrow and sentimentaltity across the Internet.
For two men in Virginia, however, it led to an intense argument that only concluded when one of them pulled out a gun and shot the other.
Police told WTKR that the disagreement stemmed over whether or not Halle Berry had ever portrayed the legendary singer in a movie.
Serious stuff, as you can see, very much worthy of a firearm being used.
According to this same report, the argument eventually turned physical, with one half of the flap pulling out his weapon and firing it at least once.
The shooting victim is in serious condition, while both men were treated by paramedics at the scene of the altercation in Suffolk and then transported to a local hospital.
An investigation has been opened, but no charges have been filed just yet.
For the record, Franklin said in a 2011 interview that she would love for Berry to play her on the big screen in a biopic someday.
This is what the late artist said at the time:
She was my first choice, everything’s subject to negotiation, and she shouldn’t underestimate her own talent.
There are a number of other leading ladies out there that can definitely handle the role. I never expected Halle to sing. She’s an actress, not a singer.
Many actors have portrayed vocalists by lip-synching to the artists’ original recordings.
Berry, however, declined the honor because she did not think she could do the legendary role justice.
Many years later, in January of 2018, Franklin chose Oscar-winner and former American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson to take on the role of… well… herself.
The movie, which was to be produced by Straight Outta Compton’s Scott Bernstein and Dreamgirls’ Harvey Mason Jr., was to be based on Franklin’s autobiography Aretha: From These Roots.
There is no plans for its production or release at the moment, though.
None of this is meant to imply that it’s worth yanking out a glock and shooting someone who misremembers this series of events.
We’re just giving our readers some background on how/why this argument got started in the first place.
The Queen of Soul, who passed away from pancreatic cancer, will be laid to rest in her hometown of Detroit.
There is not yet a scheduled date for the memorial, but Franklin will be lying in an open casket, according to a new report, with plenty of singers expected to perform.
And thousands of people expected to attend.
Tweeted Barack Obama upon learning of Franklin’s death:
“Aretha 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.”
“May the Queen of Soul rest in eternal peace.”
In one of her most memorabe performances, Franklin made the ex-President tear up.
Watch below to see what we mean:
