 On April 11, the Onion-ish "news site" The News Nerd published a fictional story titled "Patti Labelle Arrested After Fist Fight with Aretha Franklin." "You two lady’s need to bury that nonsense and move on y’all have been friends to long" 
 
 FYI: The bottom of the News Nerd site contains a disclaimer saying its posts are for "entertainment purposes only." The stories may mimic articles found in the headlines, but rest assured they are purely satirical.� 
 
 The News Nerd story was originally posted with the byline �Kato Leonard,� but it is currently credited to �The News Nerd Staff� instead. Aretha Franklin says she�s filing a $10 million lawsuit against the News Nerd over the �satirical� story the website posted about a supposed fight she had with singer Patti LaBelle. The Detroit News reports: 
 
 "The stories were not presented as satire or humor," Franklin said through her publicist, Gwendolyn Quinn. �It was presented as a serious news story intended to depict me in a slanderous and derogatory way � defamation of character.� 
 
 The News Nerd �reported�: �While Aretha Franklin was making her way to the stage, Labelle extended her hand to greet the �Respect� singer, when she threw epic shade in an effort to avoid her. The News Nerd story claimed that LaBelle was �arrested for assault and battery� after she attacked Franklin with �a Mayweather style right and left� at a March 20 concert in Atlanta. This scuffle most definitely did not occur, though Franklin found it necessary to issue a formal refutation of the incident today: 
 
 "I've never heard anything crazier—regarding myself and Patti allegedly fighting on March 20, in Atlanta. On March 20, I was in New York City readying for my birthday patty (Sorry. LOL. Laughing at my typo error). I meant PARTY, which we all had one fabulous time. Patti and I are cool and we always have been. The fictional brawl happened because the Queen of Soul supposedly slighted LaBelle at a PBS �In Performance at the White House: Women of Soul� program taped earlier in March. Classic Patti."
– There's a disclaimer at the bottom of the News Nerd site clarifying that articles found therein "are purely satirical," but the thousands of people who shared one of the stories on Facebook and Twitter this weekend may not have noticed said disclaimer. The satirical article in question, published April 11, claimed that Aretha Franklin and Patti LaBelle got into a fistfight at an Atlanta concert in March. But people seemed to believe it when it went viral, Gawker reports, and now Franklin is suing News Nerd—for $10 million. Franklin tells the Detroit News, through her publicist, that the News Nerd article was "not presented as satire or humor. It was presented as a serious news story intended to depict me in a slanderous and derogatory way—defamation of character." Here are a few lines from the "serious" story: "Onlookers say LaBelle quickly removed her wig and earrings as she approached Franklin. Aretha, knowing that the removal of earrings is a tell-tale sign that a fight is about to ensue, attempted to prepare herself for the confrontation. Franklin was quickly struck with a Mayweather style right and left and stumbled backwards, landing awkwardly." Franklin had on Tuesday issued a rather amusing statement after the article started to pick up steam: "I've never heard anything crazier ... On March 20, I was in New York City readying for my birthday patty (Sorry. LOL. Laughing at my typo error). I meant PARTY, which we all had one fabulous time. Patti and I are cool and we always have been."