Permanent Aretha Franklin Tribute Pitched For Bed-Stuy

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — Bed-Stuy could soon host a "Rock Steady" homage to the late Queen of Soul if one Brooklynite gets his way. LeRoy McCarthy of Heterodoxx INC. wants to create a permanent mural memorializing Aretha Franklin after his temporary tribute was erased last week.

"Aretha Franklin is an American/World Icon and this small street art gesture will hopefully honor her memory in some way," McCarthy said in an email. "Ms. Franklin is from Detroit, but NYC Loves her too."

McCarthy said he and another artist were behind the addition of the legendary singer's first name to signs at the Franklin Avenue C train and shuttle station after news of her death broke Thursday. A worker was seen erasing the letters the next day.

But now McCarthy has asked the MTA to adorn a wall near the corner of Franklin Avenue and Fulton Street with the letters "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" in honor of Franklin's hit song of the same name.

The tune "encapsulates Aretha Franklin, what she stood for, what she demanded, plus a movement," McCarthy said. "Everybody deserves R-E-S-P-E-C-T."

McCarthy said he chatted Monday with MTA spokesman Jon Weinstein and was told the agency's arts office would see if the mural could become a reality.

The MTA seems favorable to the Franklin tributes — it did not plan to remove others and said the worker who took down the Brooklyn stencils was in error.

"We’re in discussions with the community, and as everyone does, we have ever-lasting respect for Aretha – so we’ll work something out to honor her legacy," Weinstein said in an email.

The mural wouldn't be McCarthy's first project — he initiated one in Philadelphia honoring the late TV journalist Ed Bradley, who died in 2006. McCarthy also started the push to name a Clinton Hill street for the rapper Christopher Wallace, better known as Notorious B.I.G.

(Lead image: LeRoy McCarthy of Heterodoxx INC. wants to create a permanent mural honoring Aretha Franklin in Bed-Stuy. Image courtesy of LeRoy McCarthy/Used with permission)