Madonna's self-indulgent tribute to Aretha Franklin gets criticised by fans

The death of Aretha Franklin still continues to inspire tributes from across the world, and the MTV VMAs are no different.

At the ceremony on Monday, Madonna gave a tribute to the Queen of Soul. But fans have complained the speech was more about herself, rather than Franklin.

Madonna launched into a long-winded anecdote about the start of her career before presenting the Video of the Year award — Camila Cabello won, in case you're wondering.

"Aretha Louise Franklin changed the course of my life. I left Detroit when I was 18, $35 in my pocket," she said.

"My dream was to make it as a professional dancer, after years of struggling and being broke, I decided to go to auditions for musical theatre. I heard the pay was better."

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Madonna continued to talk about her early-career struggles, like getting robbed, and being "mistaken for a prostitute in her third floor walk-up, that was also a crack house."

She then spoke about how she went for a backup singing role for a French disco producer, but forgot to prepare a song at the audition.

Finally, the story was brought back to Franklin. She explained she knew the soul icon's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" off by heart, and performed it a capella, helping her career to take off.

"None of this would've happened, could've happened without our lady of soul. She led me to where I am today," Madonna said.

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The internet wasn't so thrilled at the long-winded anecdote, saying that the tribute was disrespectful.

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