Cicely Tyson’s hat has been cast in the last Star Wars movie, and is rumored to have been added to “John Wick 3.”

I’m 6'2 and if I’m ever giving a woman a hug from the side (I don’t unless she initiates it), my arm goes around her shoulder. No risk of grabbing anything private. The around the waste thing is for significant others or someone you’re involved with, not strangers or acquaintances.

To expound on points 5, 8 and 9 (optics of black church strong on lecherous, decrepit male leadership and short on male soldiers in the Lord’s army in the pews; professionalism and punctiliousness of gospel artist performers; Chernobyl toxic eulogy by Rev. Jasper Williams)....

Yeah, he for sure did that on purpose. Scumbag.

I’ve never understood why the pastor need to hug her to begin with. This was funeral not some actual all-star BET special.And dude, your wife is right there.

My brother is 6' 6", and I’ve never seen him in person or in photos doing a reach-around-boob-grope like this, and he has had female friends who are much shorter. Shoulders are the standard, because he isn’t a skeevy, entitled shit.

I once went to a church service in my neighborhood with a friend of mine. The church was strangely like a cult... everyone smiled at you and hugged you compulsively when you walked through the door. The pastor was like the only dude there and the members were all women. I think he had fake facial hair. At the end he…

What bothers me most about what you say - which is, of course, correct - is that with all the scandals coming out of the Catholic church, the majority white population is already having that conversation (finally; it certainly took them long enough). POC are hemming and hawing and looking the other way and trying to…

His fingers are digging in. No way he didn’t feel the soft tissue.

Yeah, I saw that hot mess and got a bit sick. That behavior is normalized in our churches and people defending him need to understand that in no context was it appropriate - even assuming for sake of argument it was accidental.

“hm, why would so many women think men are trash? I know I can’t fix all men, but I can look in the mirror and ask, “Am I being offensive even if I don’t intend to be? Am I saying things which I don’t think about but which are actually hurtful? Do I treat everyone equally? Do I listen when someone calls me out?”

Change out the word ‘lover’ for rape victim and I’m right there with you. She gave birth when she was twelve so it seems likely he raped her when she was 11. We need to talk about this crap. Supposedly the father of the baby Aretha had at 12 was her 13 year old boyfriend but I seriously wonder if that was just the…

Yep, if he’ll grope a woman in this situation imagine what he’s doing when he gets women alone, especially women with whom he has a much greater power disparity 

Sexual assault, plain and simple. Fucking disgusting. 

There is this weird deference given to preachers that I’m not sure is matched anywhere else in our culture. Gives those who are so inclined massive room to abuse.

I’m quite short for a man so it’s not something I’ve experienced but if you’re a lot taller than the person you’re trying to embrace wouldn't the shoulders be the natural place? I'm not a fan of hugs myself and I can’t imagine how bad it would be if I had to worry it was a prelude to assault. I did have an elderly…

I personally know a preacherpimp who was dating a woman in his congregation and got her 20yo daughter pregnant. He ended up marrying the mother and said the baby was a “blessing from Gawd” due to the mother being unable to conceive.

Exactly when are they starting with the very own C.L Franklin and his 12 year old lover when he was 25 years old. The same thing probably happened to Aretha, which is the reason why she didn’t mention the names of her two older children.

Yup. This stuff happens all the time, especially in churches that are built and revolve around a single man (or man and his daddy in this case). My husband and I concluded that he probably acts this way in his own mega-church all the time and no one bats an eye because he’s the ‘Bishop’ and because of who his father…

Sigh. The more appropriate response would have been to apologize to Ariana and “the whole Hispanic community” separately, considering Ariana is not Hispanic/Latina.