A senior pastor of a megachurch in Detroit who was accused of groping the singer Ariana Grande during Aretha Franklin’s funeral service on Friday has apologized.

“It would never be my intention to touch any woman’s breast,” the pastor, Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, told The Associated Press. “Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar but again, I apologize.”

Ms. Grande was one of several performers at the funeral at the Greater Grace Temple who was paying tribute to the “Queen of Soul.” She had just finished singing one of Ms. Franklin’s hit songs, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” but as she began to leave the stage, Ms. Grande was called back by the bishop.

He thanked her and joked about how he was unaware of Ms. Grande’s work.

“When I saw Ariana Grande at the program, I thought that was a new something at Taco Bell,” he said, his arm around her waist as his fingers remained pressed into the right side of her chest for more than 30 seconds. Ms. Grande laughed. (Her fourth album, “Sweetener,” was her third to reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts.)