Questlove on that Billboard Music Awards Prince tribute: ‘Let’s not get ugly’

Prince was famously not a fan of covers of his own work. But after Madonna and Stevie Wonder’s widely pilloried tribute performance at the Billboard Music Awards, it may be time to reassess what it means to “pay tribute” to a dead artist (particularly at televised awards shows) and whether or not it’s always a good idea.

Questlove, who introduced the collaborative performance, had to take to social media to defend the performance -- but even he had to admit it was not really up to Prince’s own standards.

“So I know there is gonna be ALOT of “feel a certain ways” about who you want to see do his music justice -- but you gotta put that aside yall,” he wrote. “Now anger is in the air w who (in our eyes) is allowed to mourn & how they are allowed to mourn.”

“Every Prince rendition will not be a life changing orgasmic xperience. Just to SING his work is brave enough.... But the point is let’s not get ugly w playing the ‘Prince would and wouldn’t approve’ game.”

BET got into the fracas with a deliciously snide promo, ribbing the performance with a video from the network’s own upcoming Prince tribute and a caption reading “Yeah, we saw that. Don’t Worry. We Got You.”

Madonna and Prince had an on-again, off-again feuding-friendship for years, stretching back to the time they dated just before their “Love Song” collaboration. Prince had remarked in a 2013 Billboard interview that “she was getting paid, but at the time, we were selling more records and selling out concerts on multiple nights.”

Many fans wondered about the appropriateness of her paying musical tribute so soon after Prince’s death (Stevie Wonder’s performance was less controversial, but dueting with Madonna made for a bit of a clash).

Either way, in the rush to use TV awards platforms to honor dead artists, this may finally be the moment that producers have to take a second look to make sure their tributes don’t veer into kitsch. As Questlove also noted, “EVERYBODY wants and deserves a chance to say goodbye in their own way. But remember: there will be AMAs, SoulTrain, NAACP, mtv, GRAMMYS.”

But if anything, Prince’s career was defined by technical brilliance and intentional statements of purpose. He’d be the last guy to endorse a slapdash covers night of his work - and maybe event promoters should be on guard for the same.

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