Madonna Throws Some Shade Back At BET Over Prince Tribute At The Billboard Music Awards
Madonna isn’t afraid to throw a little shade of her own. E! Online reports that the “Material Girl” singer sent a jab to BET, via Instagram, in response to their subtle criticism of her Prince tribute at the Billboard Music Awards last week.
“Wearing the jacket Prince gave me back in the day without permission from BET. Lol!” she wrote under a throwback picture on Instagram. “God Bless America. And yes that’s Marilyn!”
If you’re unaware of the beef between Madonna and BET, here’s a summary.
At the Billboard Music Awards last Sunday, Madonna performed a tribute to Prince alongside Stevie Wonder. Madonna kicked off the performance sitting on a purple throne and dressed in a lilac suit that could have been pulled straight out of Prince’s wardrobe from the 1980s. The “Vogue” singer then started belting a mournful rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” a song that was written by Prince but made famous by Sinead O’Connor. When that song was over, the music transitioned into “Purple Rain” and Madonna guided Stevie Wonder to the stage for their duet.
Although they sang two very popular songs by Prince, the tribute was not well received by many people on social media who felt that Madonna was the wrong choice to pay tribute to Prince.
I don’t get how Madonna champions herself as this humble all knowing artist but can’t see why her Prince tribute was trash & unneeded
— Ri¢h (@RicheyCollazo) May 29, 2016
#Prince looking down from Heaven watching #Madonna like: pic.twitter.com/HPM9H5ESmn
— Tha Celebritea News (@thacelebritea) May 23, 2016
I’m going to assume @Prince is in heaven & he is NOT amused w/ this @Madonna #BillboardMusicAwards tribute #SHADE pic.twitter.com/Rzw9yLCm3Y
— Nicki Mayo (@nickimayonews) May 23, 2016
But BET threw the most shade that night by tweeting a video promoting their tribute to Prince, soon after Madonna and Stevie Wonder’s performance ended.
“Yeah, we saw that. Don’t worry. We Got You.” the text on the video read, in an obvious jab towards the tribute at the Billboard Music Awards tribute.
The tweet has since been deleted from BET’s Twitter account.
The disapproval wasn’t just on social media. Us Weekly reports that before the show there was a Change.org petition launched to protest the Prince tribute by Madonna. The petition received 8,000 signatures.
Tamron Hall, national correspondent for NBC News, expressed her disappointment in the tribute on The Today Show. Hall knew Prince personally and her selfie appeared on the cover art for his 2015 single,”If Eye Could Get Ur Attention.”
“I have to compartmentalize. I’ve learned in the last few weeks there’s Prince the artist and then there’s Prince the personal part of my life,” she said. “I did not like that version. I’m just being honest, and I love Madonna.”
But there are some people who didn’t think that Madonna’s Prince tribute wasn’t all that terrible. One of those people is Questlove, drummer for The Roots and the person who introduced Madonna at the Billboard Music Awards.
“Because of P’s well known love for the *poof* vanishing act. A lot of us are left feeling incomplete in the act of saying goodbye,” he wrote on Twitter.
“For starters it’s hard to accept him no longer being here. & in the upcoming award season for ’17 there will be a gang of tributes. Naturally there will be folded arms & shade thrown because the Purple Standard is hard boots to fill & a lot of us don’t wanna come 2 grips w the fact that Prince – (an on the surface) face of health & invincible agelessness – succomb [sic] to something so… friggin basic.”
The BET Awards will air on June 26, so we’ll have wait and see how their tribute will compare to Madonna and Stevie Wonder at the Billboard Music Awards. Hope you’re getting ready, BET!
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
