FBI Investigating Aretha Franklin? Here's What The Singer's Sketchy Hundred Page File Contains

Aretha Franklin is known for many things - a trailblazer, the Queen of Soul, a music icon - but never a black extremist.

However, according to files exclusively obtained by Rolling Stone from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it would seem like they have been tracking the singer for over 40 years already.

Per the publication, Franklin's 270-page long file was linked to "black extremists," "communism," "racial violence," and "Militant black power," among many other radical ideologies. The records were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act in 2018, but the publication has further requested the agency for all other related and additional documents about the singer.

Aretha Franklin's son, Kecalf Franklin, is unsure why the FBI followed her mother and if she was well aware before her death that the law enforcement agency was following her. Meanwhile, he is confident that her mother did nothing wrong to spark the interest of the FBI.

What does Aretha Franklin's FBI File Contain?

Aside from being a music and entertainment icon, Aretha Franklin has been a vocal activist. Until her death, she was a prominent African-American preacher. She has been deeply involved in the civil rights movement and women's struggle, among many other causes.

Particularly, the FBI has associated Franklin with her relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. and Angela Davis.

Between the documents, Franklin was said to have received an "ominous" letter that seemed to have tipped off the death of his Father, C.L. Franklin, also a prominent civil rights leader in Detroit.

"Dear Aretha... I'm still in charge of you... I'm not to be crossed...you should be...paying me some of my money...evidently, your advisors do not know the dangers of neglecting what I'm saying...I would hate to drag [your father] into this," the letter says.

Aside from this, the document also noted some instances in the "RESPECT" hitmaker's life that linked her to "radical movements," including a fan outrage in 1968, and even her Atlantic Records deal was a subject of suspicion at the time.

Suspiciously, Aretha Franklin was not the only Black music icon to have been linked to these movements, as the publication has also revealed that several artists also had files from the FBI.

Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, The Notorious B.I.G., and even Whitney Houston all had files from the law-enforcement agency.

However, despite the four decades of relentless tracking, the bureau has found nothing that would put Aretha Franklin behind bars or being indicted.

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Aretha Franklin