Could Aretha Franklin’s fur coats go to refugees and wildlife? PETA hopes so
It was the fur coat drop seen ‘round the world.
In 2015, Aretha Franklin walked onto the stage to sing “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” to honor the song’s co-writer, Carole King, at the Kennedy Center Honors. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, watched from a balcony.
Franklin emerged in a glittery evening gown, enrobed in one of her signature fur coats. It was chocolate-brown, floor-length and luscious.
It stayed on as she played the piano for much of the song. Then she got up and walked to center stage. Within minutes, she pushed that coat off her shoulders and dropped it onto the ground, lifting her arm in triumph.
The crowd jumped to its feet.
After the event Elton John, no stranger to dramatic stage craft himself, told The New York Times that he had watched Franklin’s performance over and again online.
“I will definitely, when I’m 75, be having a fur coat like that, and coming in with a clutch bag, too,” he told the Times. “And throwing my coat off. And in a fishtail dress.”
Now that she’s gone, the animal rights group PETA wants Franklin’s iconic fur collection.
Franklin died at the age of 76 on August 16 of pancreatic cancer. Her funeral on Friday will be livestreamed, reports The Detroit Free Press.
On Tuesday mourners began paying their last respects at Detroit’s Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History where the Queen of Soul lies in repose in a gold-plated casket, dressed all in red - including her high heels.
In a letter sent last week to Franklin’s niece, Sabrina Garrett Owens, PETA asked Franklin’s estate to donate her furs to the organization’s fur donation program - perhaps forgetting that time it insulted her by saying looked like a “walrus” in one of her coats.
If PETA gets them, Franklin’s furs could wind up on the backs of refugees or homeless people, or be cut up and turned into bedding at wildlife rehab centers, PETA said in a release.
“If Franklin’s family accepts PETA’s offer, Franklin will posthumously join the long list of celebrities who have donated unwanted fur coats to PETA ... including Anjelica Huston, Mariah Carey, Kim Cattrall, Mary Tyler Moore, and Sharon Osbourne,” PETA said in a statement.
The donation “could expand her legacy of social justice to animals,” PETA executive president Tracy Reiman said in the statement.
“While we can’t bring back the animals who suffered and died for them, these coats can help others by providing some much-needed warmth to orphaned animals and humans in desperate need.”
PETA has set its sights on Franklin and her furs before.
In February 2008, days after the Grammy Awards, PETA issued a blistering statement about Franklin wearing fur to the show.
“One of our most popular anti-fur slogans here at PETA is ‘Fur is worn by beautiful animals and ugly people.’ And we’ve got some great ads to back it up,” the group said in a press release.
“But the pictures that have been circulating of Aretha Franklin at the Grammy awards last week don’t even really need the tagline to drive that point home.
“She looks like a walrus in a cat costume. Except, like, nowhere near as cute as that sounds.”
The group’s vice president, Dan Mathews, addressed Franklin specifically, writing: “Music lovers may think of you as a ‘queen,’ but to animal lovers, you are a court jester.
“I’m sorry, Aretha, but your furs make you look like a clown. Why not shed the old-fashioned look that adds pounds to your frame and detracts from your beautiful voice? Won’t you donate your furs to the poor as ‘queen of compassion,’ Mariah Carey, did? You’ll get a tax credit for the donation, and we at PETA will all sing your praises.”
PETA hasn’t said whether the Franklin family has accepted its request. But it has rankled some fans, including Maiysha Kai, managing editor of The Glow Up style blog for the online magazine, The Root.
She argues that Franklin’s furs were so much a part of her legend that they “might be considered museum-worthy — or, at the very least, should first be curated and distributed amongst Franklin’s family members and friends before any donations are made or considered.”
And have some respect, Kai wrote.
“But regardless of where one stands on the issue of wearing fur, it would’ve been nice if PETA could’ve at least waited until the family had a chance to properly mourn and bury the Queen of Soul before requesting donations from her estate in such a public manner,” she wrote.. “It was simply poor form.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 11:58 AM.