Franklin, the iconic singer dubbed the Queen of Soul, died Thursday at age 76 of advanced pancreatic cancer.
Fox News ran a graphic that paired a close-up image of Franklin with one of a woman performing in the background. Unfortunately, the secondary image was of LaBelle singing, and many across social media called out the network on its apparent mix-up.
“We sincerely apologize to Aretha Franklin’s family and friends,” Jessica Santostefano, a Fox News vice president, said in a statement. “Our intention was to honor the icon using a secondary image of her performing with Patti LaBelle in the full-screen graphic, but the image of Ms. Franklin was obscured in that process, which we deeply regret.”
However, some internet sleuths were not buying the network’s explanation. According to Entertainment Weekly, the original photo with LaBelle does not seem to include Franklin anywhere else in the image.
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