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Aretha Franklin sues supermarket tabloid

DETROIT, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- All Aretha Franklin wants is a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

The 59-year-old queen of soul music filed a $50 million lawsuit against the Star tabloid and its publisher, American Media Inc., for printing a story last year accusing her of being an out-of-control drunk.

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Franklin's attorneys filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Detroit Wednesday charging the Star defamed the singer's character and exposed her to ridicule in a story in December headlined, "Aretha Franklin Drinking Herself Into The Grave." The story said alcohol abuse had caused Franklin to cancel concerts and was jeopardizing her career and health.

The Star quoted a source who said Franklin missed concerts in Milwaukee, and Tampa and Orlando, Fla., because of her heavy "boozing" but her lawyer said Franklin gave up drinking alcohol in the 1970s.

"As far as I know she never had a drinking problem," attorney Barry Langberg, of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP in Los Angeles told Thursday's Detroit Free Press. "She's Aretha Franklin. Nobody's not going to hire her but there might be questions about her reliability."

The lawsuit, which seeks $50 million for damage to Franklin's reputation and the shame and emotional distress the article caused, said the singer took legal action only after the Star failed to adequately retract the original story.

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American Media publishes the National Enquirer, the Globe, National Examiner, Weekly World News and other publications as well as the Star. It closed its Boca Raton, Fla., headquarters building in October after a photo editor died of inhalation anthrax.

Franklin was the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for her hits, including "RESPECT," "Natural Woman," "Chain of Fools," "Dr. Feelgood," "Baby I Love You," "Since You Been Gone" and "Think."

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