Justin Timberlake’s half-time performance during the 2018 Superbowl on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018, has been mired with controversy over his decision to feature a tribute to Prince.
The iconic ?Purple Rain? hitmaker made an appearance last night during Timberlake?s half-time performance.
Prince’s proteg? Sheila E. spoke to Timberlake ahead of his Super Bowl performance and warned him against using a hologram of the late star as it was against his wishes and spiritual beliefs.
Full video of Justin Timberlake’s performance + details below…
The only thing missing is Janet Jackson?s nipple…. #SuperBowl
— Michelle Brown (@ATLien) February 5, 2018
No Janet… No Britney Spears… No “surprise” performers at all… except for a special tribute to the late, great pop icon Prince Rogers Nelson. 💜
?I just said no. I just felt that it was too soon. The hologram was weird, and Prince did tell me [to] make sure nobody ever does a hologram of [him]. ?If you?re still here, make sure nobody does a hologram.?
He thought it was very demonic and that?s his spiritual beliefs. Justin reached out to me last night and we had a good conversation, and then I assured the fans that there is no hologram.?
For the record, Timberlake used a video projection of Prince rather than a hologram (which was the original plan) but fans still feel that it was disrespectful to his legacy.
Meanwhile, Justin has said that he merely wanted to pay tribute to his favorite musician of all times….
It?s a moment for me, if I?m being quite honest, because he?s always been the pinnacle of musicianship for me. And when we decided that [we were going to do a tribute], like the serendipity and the synergy that we would be Minneapolis, and that he?s such a special thing here aside from what he is all over the world. I just felt like I wanted to do something for this city and something for him that would just be the ultimate homage to what I consider the G.O.A.T. of musicians.
You have to understand, we got the actual vocal stems from ?I Would Die 4 U? ? the actual recording ? and then we got the uncut version of it and ?Purple Rain? and some way by the grace of Prince looking down on us, it synced up. It was like this crazy, serendipitous moment. I wanted to use that opportunity to do something special for this city but also my favorite musician of all time.