Aretha Franklin Told Jill Scott to Get Her '2 Hot Dogs with Cooked Onions and Mustard' When They Met
Aretha Franklin Told Jill Scott to Get Her '2 Hot Dogs with Cooked Onions and Mustard' When They Met
Chiara KimWed, April 1, 2026 at 11:02 PM UTC
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(L-R): Jill Scott; Aretha Franklin.Credit: Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty; Bennett Raglin/Getty -
Jill Scott revealed what happened when she first met Aretha Franklin
She said the Queen of Soul told her to go get her two hot dogs with cooked onions and mustard
Scott said that she now appreciates this “auntie” perspective on life
Aretha Franklin had one request for Jill Scott when they first met.
The "Golden" singer, 53, revealed that the Queen of Soul told her to get her two hot dogs with onions and mustard when they met for the first time in a March 31 episode of NPR’s Fresh Air podcast.
“Aretha Franklin sent me to get her two hot dogs with cooked onions and mustard,” Scott told Tonya Mosley, the co-host of the show, to Mosley’s surprise.
“You met her, you told her you loved her, and then she said what?” Mosley clarified.
“‘Go to the corner and get me two hot dogs with cooked onions and mustard,’” Scott recalled. “And I went.”
Aretha Franklin performs at the International Jazz Day Concert on the South Lawn of the White House on April 29, 2016 in Washington, DC.Credit: Aude Guerrucci-Pool/Getty
“I think I had the number one album in the country at the time,” Scott said. “And I went to the corner and I got those hot dogs, and I brought them back, and I just waited.”
“I don’t even think she ate them,” Scott said.
When Mosley asked Scott what she learned from that experience, she said, “I would, one, say be nicer to people,” laughing.
“Two, you gotta earn your stripes,” she said. “[Back] then I was like, ‘Aww, I wanted her to be nicer to me, to embrace me to tell me, you know, give me some advice and hold my hand a little bit, but that’s not what happened.”
“Now, I am that woman to a certain degree,” Scott said, referring to her own status in the music world. She said she now understands that Franklin was assigning her a task to see what she would do.
“Don’t waste it, don’t waste my time, don’t waste your time. It’s too valuable,” she said of what she imagined Franklin may have been thinking at the time.
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“I like this,” Scott said. “This is the auntie portion; she’s a little tougher.”
“'This is good for me. It’s good for you too, if you want it,' ” the singer continued, imagining what Franklin would say.
However, many of the comments on the video were critical of the interaction. Comedian and actor Tony Baker shared his disagreement with Franklin’s ask in a comment.
“Nah. What was the point of Aretha doing that? I don’t get it. We not pledging a Sorority or Fraternity here. Just be nice to folks. Cause acting like that can create villains,” he wrote.
Another comment agreed, saying that, “earning stripes is important, but making people run meaningless errands and being mean should not be a part of it.”
Jill Scott talked with PEOPLE in a March 2026 interview about her start in the industry and how someone once tried to tell her to change who she was.
“I had somebody tell me in the beginning of my career that if I didn’t lose weight, or if I didn’t straighten my hair or whatever, that I’d never sell any records,” Scott says. “That sucked, but luckily I didn’t listen to them and decided to just continue to be myself.”
She also told PEOPLE why she took a step back from music prior to her new album To Whom This May Concern. She preserved her glow by stepping back from music amid hardships like two divorces.
"I needed time to be with my family, raise my kid to the best of my ability,” she said.
She added, "I’m in the middle of menopause right now. I’m different in ways that I didn’t intend on being different, but I’m here, and I love what I do. It’s a thrill and a privilege."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
