Firstly, the POTUS took to Twitter to share his condolences.
“The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, is dead,” he wrote. “She was a great woman, with a wonderful gift from God, her voice. She will be missed!”
However, he should have left it there, as later when speaking to the press ahead of a cabinet meeting, it all went downhill.
”I want to begin today by expressing my condolences to the family of a person I knew well,” Trump said.
“She worked for me on numerous occasions. She was terrific — Aretha Franklin — on her passing. She brought joy to millions of lives and her extraordinary legacy will thrive and inspire many generations to come.
“She was given a great gift from God — her voice, and she used it well. People loved Aretha. She was a special woman. So just want to pass on my warmest best wishes and sympathies to her family.”
While it remains unclear what the President meant by his claim that the singer “worked” for him, some reports suggest he could be referring to that fact that she performed at his Trump Castle Casino in 1988 as well as the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in the 1990s.
The White House has not responded to questions over the statement.
Unsurprisingly, the statement did not go down well and has been slammed online as tasteless, disrespectful and racist.
