How Aretha Franklin gave Page Six a lesson in ‘respect’

Aretha Franklin was an avid reader of Page Six, but she didn’t always like what she read.

“Page Six TV” host Carlos Greer faced the Queen of Soul’s wrath at her 74th birthday celebration, after we reported that she’d caused a commotion while seeing a 2015 performance of the hit Jennifer Hudson Broadway show “The Color Purple.”

Franklin “showed up late to a performance at the Jacobs Theatre, took up six seats around her and began holding her phone in the air to snap photos of the show,” a witness said, and that was all before intermission!

When Greer interviewed Franklin at her birthday party soon after, the music legend calmly explained, “I buy and read Page Six religiously every time I come to New York. When I get up, I’m reading The Post . . . [and that story was] a lot of BS.”

She added: “Hit whoever wrote [that] over the head. Give them a good hit over the head.”

Greer said on Tuesday, recalling the incident with the late icon and the item penned by a colleague, “I did not hit them over the head, but I did get a lesson in respect from the Queen of Soul that I will never forget.”

Even the theater pro who witnessed the incident at “The Color Purple” at the time exclaimed: “It’s Aretha f - - king Franklin, and she can take pictures whenever and wherever she wants.”