Not all of Prince's vultures are financial.
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HuffingtonPost: Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through Madonna’s much-hyped performance honoring Prince at the Billboard Music Awards...Prior to the show...a...petition...(was) started...to stop the “Material Girl” from performing...
Many were unhappy with the singer’s tribute...which featured Stevie Wonder and a lot of purple...Questlove, who introduced the duo’s performance, later took to Twitter to defend Madonna’s tribute.
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That was very loyal of Questlove. But since he introduced the tribute and was no doubt compensated by Billboard in exchange, it was not very objective of Questlove.
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Madonna didn’t seem too bothered, sharing a series of photos after the awards show...“Anyone who wants to do a tribute to Prince is welcome to,” (she) wrote on her social media accounts...most likely after seeing the criticism of her performance. “Whatever your age gender or skin color. If you loved him and he inspired you then show it..."
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Nice try, but neither age, gender, nor skin color affected her performance: her trademark vocal sub-mediocrity (and the possible relocation of her cheekbones) did.
I really did like her outfit -- but then again, outfits ARE her specialty. The problem is that her opening the tribute from a purple throne and using a cane she didn't need came across as self-aggrandizing; her attempting to top Sinead O'Connor's cover of
Nothing Compares 2 U came across as self-destructive; and her closing the tribute by bringing out Stevie Wonder came across as racially patronizing.
One thing for which I genuinely admire Jon is his
not admiring Madonna. When she tried to introduce vouging, he advised that people are more interested in her
brandishing her booty than her arms. She DIDN'T get where she is by standing relatively still and singing relatively well while fully clothed: her being a visual rather than artistic contemporary of Prince is what generated the fan protest, and sure enough, she justified it.
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Twitter attacked Madonna for her lackluster showing, and Black Entertainment Television made sure people knew its tribute to the Purple Rain singer would be much better...
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BET punked out and deleted the tweet, but
not in time. Does this mean we're on the verge of a musical race war? Hardly -- Black Entertainment Television hasn't been BLACK Entertainment Television since its owner sold it to the very white Viacom media conglomerate in 2001. But controversy sells, especially controversies involving the corpses of the rich and famous...