The bishop who led Aretha Franklin's funeral has apologised to Ariana Grande for how he touched her while onstage.

Bishop Charles H Ellis III also expressed regret over a joke he made about her name.

A video of the moment the bishop wrapped his arm around Grande after she performed Franklin's (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman has been shared widely online.

In the video his hand appears to touch the side of her breast.

Many viewers expressed outrage over the clip, and within hours the hashtag #RespectAriana was trending worldwide with 90,000 tweets.


Image: #RespectAriana trended worldwide on Twitter after the bishop held the singer

"It would never be my intention to touch any woman's breast... I don't know I guess I put my arm around her," Bishop Ellis said.

"Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar but again, I apologise."

The preacher said he hugged all the performers during Friday's seven-hour service.

"I hug all the female artists and the male artists," he said.

"Everybody that was up, I shook their hands and hugged them. That's what we are all about in the church. We are all about love."

He added: "The last thing I want to do is to be a distraction to this day. This is all about Aretha Franklin."

:: Aretha Franklin: The funeral service that felt more like a celebration

Although many criticised the preacher and said the singer looked uncomfortable when it happened, Grande has made no public comment about the matter.

I don’t care what you think about Ariana Grande, her music or her dress. This is wrong. That bishop’s hand should not be on her breast: I just saw this because I’ve been working and not watching pic.twitter.com/ixVhgYBJTN — Mona Eltahawy (@monaeltahawy) September 1, 2018

Mona Eltahawy, a feminist author, wrote: "I don't care what you think about Ariana Grande, her music or her dress. This is wrong. That bishop's hand should not be on her breast."

Referring to another on-going debate over whether Grande's dress was too short to be worn in church, Ms Eltahawy said: "Groping a woman's breast is most definitely worse than a dress that you think is inappropriate. Much worse."

Groping a woman’s breast is most definitely worse than a dress that you think is inappropriate. Much worse. https://t.co/6JHw9qPmoS — Mona Eltahawy (@monaeltahawy) September 1, 2018

The bishop also apologised to Grande, her fans and Hispanic community for making a joke about seeing her name on the programme and thinking it was a new item on the menu at Taco Bell, a Tex-Mex chain of fast food restaurants popular in the US.

"I personally and sincerely apologise to Ariana and to her fans and to the whole Hispanic community," Bishop Ellis said.

"When you're doing a programme for nine hours you try to keep it lively, you try to insert some jokes here and there."