Twitter Is Utterly Disgusted With The Bishop Who Groped Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande was subjected to an extremely uncomfortable moment of public groping at Aretha Franklin’s funeral on Friday. Photos and video clips circulating on Twitter showed Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, who led the service, grabbing onto the singer for an extended period of time.

Ellis apologized Saturday for being “too friendly” with Grande, the Associated Press reports.

“It would never be my intention to touch any woman’s breast. … I don’t know I guess I put my arm around her,” Ellis said. “Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar but again, I apologize.”

Onlookers were aghast at the unwarranted touching.

People on Twitter had also criticized Grande for the length of her dress, saying it was inappropriate for church. But no dress length (nor any outfit, for that matter) warrants being touched.

Ellis also worked in a tasteless joke about Grande’s name, saying that when he saw her name on the program, he thought it was a Taco Bell menu item. He apologized for that, too.

“I personally and sincerely apologize to Ariana and to her fans and to the whole Hispanic community,” Ellis said. “When you’re doing a program for nine hours you try to keep it lively, you try to insert some jokes here and there.”

Needless to say, the whole encounter was hard to watch.

H/T Associated Press

This article was originally published on The Daily Dot.