Prince Hologram Scrapped From Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl LII Halftime Performance
by Lisa Bowman
Justin Timberlake is getting set to perform during the halftime slot at Sunday’s Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.
It was previously reported that the singer’s performance would include a hologram of Prince.
The late artist, who passed away in 2016, famously performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show back in 2007.
However, Prince’s close friend, Sheila E. voiced her dismay on Twitter yesterday, saying: “Prince told me don’t ever let anyone do a hologram of me. Not cool if this happens!”
Hours later, the drummer tweeted confirmation that the hologram would not be going ahead.
“Family, I spoke w/Justin 2nite and he shared heartfelt words of respect for Prince & the Purple fans,” she wrote.
“I look 4wrd 2 seeing what I’m sure is going 2 be a spectacular halftime show. There is no hologram.”
In a 1998 interview with Guitar World, Prince previously expressed his disgust at artist holograms, calling them “demonic”.
When asked whether he would ever consider playing with another artist’s hologram, he responded: “Certainly not.”
“That’s the most demonic thing imaginable,” he continued.
“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 [“Free As a Bird”], 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.”
It was thought that Janet Jackson might appear on stage with Timberlake during his performance tonight, but it’s been confirmed that’s not the case.
Meanwhile, Prince’s estate recently won a battle with a music producer to stop him from releasing previously unheard tracks that he’d worked on with the singer.
This came just days after Prince’s estate announced its own plans to release previously unheard tracks.
This story originally appeared on nme.com.
