Aretha Franklin Goes In On Kathie Lee & NBC Today Show

Aretha Franklin is no slouch when it comes to defending her career!

During the fourth hour of NBC’s morning show on Monday, co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford were talking with E! correspondent Jason Kennedy about Aretha Franklin wanting to be a judge on “American Idol,” a story which CNN first reported.

Gifford emphatically said today’s generation of music lovers don’t know who the 18-time Grammy Award winner is.

“If they are looking for a younger demographic, there are a lot of kids out there (who) actually don’t know who Aretha Franklin is. It’s sad, but they don’t,” Gifford said.

Then, Kennedy poured more cold water on the idea of Franklin doing the show, saying she doesn’t like to fly and that will make it hard for her to travel across the country for auditions.

While I enjoy Kathie Lee and Hoda daily, her assessment is totally wrong!” Franklin wrote.

“I’ve been to California from Detroit four times this year and Florida. I go wherever I choose to go comfortably on my custom bus.Further, my audience and fans span the age of 8 to 90! And are multi-ethnic, and I am very well known to young adults, tweens and teens. Their parents play my music and I take care of my business whenever I sign on the dotted line!”