Viewers of Tuesday’s episode of ITV’s This Morning were left cringing during an awkward interview with Chaka Khan.

The music legend, 71, appeared on the show to promote her 50th anniversary tour which has headed to Europe this week for a string of festival dates.

Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard  were excited to welcome Chaka to the studio but the interview didn’t get off to the best start as Cat asked ‘how are you?’ to which the singer responded with a blunt: ‘I’m here.’

Things didn’t get much better as Chaka responded to Cat and Ben’s enthusiastic questions with one word answers.

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Viewers of Tuesday’s episode of ITV ‘s This Morning were left cringing during an awkward interview with Chaka Khan

Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard were excited to welcome Chaka but the interview didn’t get off to the best start as Cat asked ‘how are you?’ to which the singer responded: ‘I’m here’

‘Anyone else think this interview is extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemely uncomfortable?’ tweeted one viewer.

‘Chaka is a fabulous icon but this interview is painful!’ agreed another.

‘Chaka would clearly rather be anywhere else right now’; ‘Chaka sounds really bored with this interview’;  ‘I love Chaka Khan’s music but jaysus that was such a disappointing interview. I never thought she’d be so miserable’; ‘Ben and Cat trying to make this fun and uplifting when the car crash is happening right in front of them.’

In December Chaka announced she will be taking a step back from her career to focus on her ‘great-grandchildren’.

The singer, who began her career in early 1970 as the frontwoman of funk band Rufus, is marking 50 years in the music industry this year.

But, speaking to Rolling Stone, she explained: ‘I got this rich-*** life. I’ve got great-grandchildren I want to get to know better. So I will not do another tour.’

‘I’ll do dates, but it won’t look like a tour. They’ll be far enough apart that I can have time to sleep in between.’

In the same interview the icon revealed she has put her feud with Kanye West behind her.

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The music legend, 71, appeared on the show to promote her 50th anniversary tour which has headed to Europe this week for a string of festival dates

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Things didn’t get much better as Chaka responded to Cat and Ben’s enthusiastic questions with one word answers

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View gallery

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‘Anyone else think this interview is extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemely uncomfortable?’ tweeted one viewer

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Ths singer did at least put on a smile for a photo with the This Morning duo before she left

The Queen Of Funk previously disapproved of the way the rapper, 46, sped up her vocals while sampling her 1984 hit ‘Through The Fire’ on his 2004 debut single ‘Through the Wire’, which she called ‘stupid.’

But the music icon has come around, and admitted that her comments at the time were ‘salty’ and that she is not holding onto any ‘silly grudges.’

Chaka confirmed that she didn’t know Kanye would alter her voice on the sample, but said she is partly at fault over the misunderstanding: ‘You know, that was my fault, too, for feeling salty about that in any way,’ she said.

Speeding up and slowing down loops has since become commonplace – something Khan now recognises, saying: ‘If I understood the rap game more completely, like I do now, then that wouldn’t have been a big deal to me.’

The songstress was then asked whether she is still bothered by ‘Through The Wire’, to which she replied she was ‘done.’