Trevor Noah On Aretha Franklin: 'She Was Gangsta'

Trevor Noah, host of “The Daily Show,” shared his feelings about the death of Aretha Franklin with the audience during a break at his taping Thursday.

“I remember I used to sing the songs with my mom,” Noah said. “I grew up – most of the time it was just me and my mom. And so I used to sing all the songs not really knowing what they meant per se.”

Noah said he appreciated that Franklin used her platform to promote civil rights.

“You read these beautiful stories about how Aretha Franklin had it in her contract that she wouldn’t perform for segregated audiences,” he said. “...She was one of the first people who supported Angela Davis, you know, from the Black Panthers. She fought for Martin Luther King. This was at a time when it wasn’t cool to do that. It was risky to you and your livelihood.”

He also admired her for standing up for herself.

“You know what I loved about Aretha as well? The stories that she was gansta. She only performed when she had her money in cash before the gig,” he said, adding, “She was the original ‘Bitch Better Have My Money.’”

Check out the video above to see what Noah said about “Respect.”