The “respect” joke writes itself here, but Aretha Franklin is apparently launching her own line of desserts and packaged foods to presumably get a piece of frenemy Patti LaBelle’s burgeoning boxed-pie empire. The internet was full of memes of Aretha scowling after LaBelle’s Walmart sweet-potato pies became the Tickle Me Elmo of Thanksgiving desserts, but Franklin stresses to Detroit’s Channel 4 that she’s obviously never tried one. She still throws a decent amount of shade, declaring: “Ms. Patti’s gonna have to move that pie to the side.”
Franklin’s rival brand is still under development with a Phoenix-based food group, so this bake-off isn’t on just yet. Aside from a variety of desserts (just a guess, but probably high on that list: vanilla Bundt and caramel-buttercream cakes), Franklin says she plans to market “my gumbo,” “my chili,” and “my baked chicken and dressing,” which “will be in a loaf pan, kind of like you’ve seen with Sara Lee cakes.”
[Click on Detroit via CNN]
