Watch: Stars on the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards’ Red Carpet Put Some R-E-S-P-E-C-T on Aretha’s Name

MTV, I’mma let you finish—but Aretha Franklin was one of the greatest singers of all time, so I would expect the Video Music Awards to go above and beyond to pay her proper respect.

The Root’s weekend social media editor Corey Townsend hit the red carpet at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards to get everyone’s favorite song by the Queen of Soul. Unlike Madonna, these people actually talked about Aretha. I was there. The evidence is above.