Celeb goss 5th February 2018 by Cara Croke

Uh Oh! Justin Timberlake’s Tribute To Prince Is Facing MAJOR Backlash

"That whole virtual reality thing... it really is demonic..."

Prince fans were not happy with Justin Timberlake’s highly anticipated Super Bowl half-time performance on Sunday night.

During the 13-minute-long show, Justin performed Prince’s hit “I Would Die 4 U” alongside the legend’s vocals, with a projection of the late icon on a giant white curtain behind him.

Rumours circulated during the days prior to the performance that Justin would sing alongside a hologram of Prince, and these speculations were met by criticism from many Prince fans as well as one of his former collaborators Sheila E.

Ahead of the show, the drummer tweeted that Prince had told her to never let anyone use a hologram of him.

She further tweeted that she received confirmation that there would be no hologram at the show.

According to E!Online, Prince said in a 1998 interview with Guitar World that he would never consider collaborating with someone from the past through digital editing. The star said: “That’s the most demonic thing imaginable. Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing… it really is demonic. And I am not a demon.

“Also, what they did with that Beatles song, manipulating John Lennon’s voice to have him singing from across the grave… that’ll never happen to me. To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control.”

Fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment at the tribute.

https://twitter.com/pradacarey/status/960327652262465537

What did you think of the tribute? You can watch the full performance below.