Somehow, five years after Whitney Houston's death, the singer's funeral has become a battleground between Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick, and the former is not pulling any punches.

At the 2012 service, Warwick — intentionally or otherwise — shaded Franklin for being absent, according to The Associated Presssetting the scene for a years-long feud.

“Ree’s not here, but she is here,” Warwick said at Houston's celebration. “She loves Whitney as if she were born to her. She is her godmother.”

Yesterday (April 25), Franklin reached out to the Associated Press in a tandem phone call and fax, calling Warwick's words "libel." Franklin said she wasn't Houston's godmother and was "too busy to be anyone's godmother."

Franklin also noted that she had to skip the funeral because she had swollen feet, and said Warwick's words were needlessly inflammatory and meant to cause harm.

Franklin added that since the incident, Warwick has tried to reach out, but Franklin has been less than receptive.

"She said, 'Give me a hug.' I said, 'Oh hell no. You couldn't be serious,'" Franklin said, recalling one run-in at a film premiere.

And when The AP asked if she wanted an apology from Warwick, Franklin noted "I don't care about her apology, at this point it isn't about an apology, it's about libel."

"We've never been friends and I don't think that Dionne has ever liked me," she added.

Warwick's rep responded by noting "She will not dignify a response to the statement made by Aretha Franklin."

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