Aretha Franklin Can Sing The National Anthem For As Long As She Damn Well Wants

The Queen of Soul sang what some dubbed the longest national anthem ever and the Twitterverse had some thoughts.

Aretha Franklin's rendition of the national anthem prior to the start of the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings game divided the Twitterverse on Thanksgiving.

For some it was a drawn-out version that left even the football players with their hands over their hearts looking weary, but for others it was just Aretha being the ultimate Queen of Soul.

Franklin wore a fur coat and a Detroit Lions pom-pom hat while playing the piano and belting out "The Star-Spangled Banner" to the packed stadium.

The reaction to the five-minute version was swift.

Bad news: Football is cancelled Good news: 13-hour Aretha Franklin concert. Leave it on through dinner. Everybody will love it.

I cooked my whole turkey, ate and did the dishes during Aretha Franklin's National Anthem performance.

I call Aretha Franklin the Abe Lincoln of singing the National Anthem cuz she started four score and seven years ago.

Is Aretha still singing? 🦃🇺🇸🏈

Detroit vs Minnesota time of possession stats Lions: 3 minutes Vikings: 0 minutes Aretha Franklin: 8 minutes

But Franklin's die-hard fans were quick to come to her defense.

Aretha Franklin is pretty far up at the top of the list of folks who can take however long they want with the national anthem.

I'm gonna tell all your grandchildren about the time you complained about seeing Aretha Franklin instead of the Detroit Lions

Aretha Franklin can sang. https://t.co/HMbRe4tpue

Even Missy Elliot stepped into the fray.

Aretha Franklin is A LIVING LEGEND who has been A inspiration 2 many artist🙋🏾RESPECT! & yes come through With the Gospel chords🙌🏾 ayyye👏🏾

R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

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