Madonna says she wasn’t asked and didn’t intend to do a tribute to Aretha Franklin at the MTV Video Music Awards.
The pop star was scorched online for telling a lengthy story about Franklin on Monday’s show that had more to do with herself than the Queen of Soul, who died last week.
But in an Instagram post on Tuesday, Madonna said she was asked to present the video of the year award and share any anecdotes she had in her career that were connected to Franklin. Madonna story was about singing a song popularised by Franklin during an audition but included much more about her own career.
She wrote that she could never do Franklin justice with a tribute amid the noise and tinsel of an award show.
While Madonna may have had a lousy night at the MTV Video Music Awards, but it was at least better for the network’s executives.
MTV appears to have slowed the show’s precipitous decline in interest over the past few years. The Nielsen company estimated that some 5.23 million people watched the awards on Monday night, down from the 5.68 million who watched the year before — a drop, but not as significant as in previous years.
MTV noted that it was the top-rated programme across all of cable and broadcast television among viewers aged 18 to 34. And the network pointed to encouraging signs for the amount of people who experienced the event digitally, which is increasingly how young people experience traditional television.
