LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Aretha Franklin is unhappy, she does not mince words. On Tuesday, the longtime Queen of Soul slammed Beyonce Knowles’ intro to Tina Turner at Sunday’s Grammy Awards, in which Knowles called Turner, not Franklin, “the queen.”

“I am not sure of whose toes I may have stepped on or whose ego I may have bruised between the Grammy writers and Beyonce,” Franklin said in a statement issued by her publicist. “However, I dismissed it as a cheap shot for controversy.”

E-mails to Knowles’ publicist Yvette Noel-Schure and calls and e-mails to Recording Academy spokeswomen Jaime Sarachit and Barb Deghan were not immediately returned.

In the first few seconds of Knowles’ intro to Turner’s performance, she name-dropped Franklin and a long list of famed female singers. Then the “Crazy in Love” chanteuse focused on Turner.

“There is one legend who has the essence of all of those things: the glamour, the soul, the passion, the strength, the talent,” said Knowles, strutting in hot pants. “Ladies and gentlemen. Stand on your feet and give it up for the queen.”

At a party later that night, Knowles called Turner her “ultimate icon.”

Still, Franklin ended her brief criticism on a gracious note, thanking the Grammys and the voting academy and saying, “love to Beyonce anyway.”

Known for such hits as “Respect” and “Chain of Fools,” Franklin tied with the Clark Sisters for best gospel performance trophy for her duet “Never Gonna Break My Faith” with Mary J. Blige. [ source ]

Rapper Remy Ma is confident of “vindication” in her forthcoming assault trial after prosecutors failed to find Dna evidence linking her to the crime.

The hip-hop star - real name Remy Smith - is accused of assault, criminal possession of a weapon, gang assault and witness intimidation in relation to the shooting of 23-year-old Makeda Barnes-Joseph outside a New York nightclub in July.

Smith is due to stand trial later this month but her defence team insist the star has a good chance of being acquitted as experts failed to find any Dna clues to link her to the shooting.

Defence attorney Ivan Fisher tells Sohh.com, “They (police) were looking in the victim’s car for evidence of blood. Now I ask you, since my client wasn’t shot and the victim was, whose blood do you think it was? As long as the prosecution keeps thinking like this, we might win this case. We look forward to vindication.” [ source ]

So not one bloody strand of yaki on the scene, huh? Looks like we may have a whole heap of colorful outfits, two-toned weaves, and Fat Joe diss records to look foward to from Lumberjack Jane!