Justin Timberlake Uses Prince Projection After Saying He Wouldn't Use Hologram Of Legendary Artist
MINNEAPOLIS (CBS/AP) -- Justin Timberlake is getting a mixed response on social media over his Super Bowl halftime performance.
The pop superstar went through a medley of his hits, including "Cry Me A River" and "Can't Stop The Feeling."
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He also paid tribute to Prince with his hit "I Would Die 4 U" and used a projection of the legendary artist during the song.
The projection comes after Sheila E. said Timberlake reached out to her after she tweeted that Prince didn't want to be turned into a hologram and said she has been assured there will be no hologram of the late superstar at Sunday's Super Bowl.
Many took to Twitter to voice their opinion about it.
Justin Timberlake probably angered legions of @JanetJackson fans by playing THAT song at the start of his performance, and then probably angered legions of Prince fans by using the hologram, which his family didn't want. But why? #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay #Prince
— Langston Wertz Jr. (@langstonwertzjr) February 5, 2018
What I learned from the #SuperBowl halftime show: I don't know a lot of Justin Timberlake songs. (For context, last year I knew most of the Lady Gaga songs.)
— Trevor R-L (@CallMeTRL) February 5, 2018
The Prince tribute was cool, and the ending saved it for me. Didn't really dig the performance until the last song.
Justin Timberlake once played second fiddle on a song with Andy Samberg and wanted to have a Prince hologram for this
— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) February 5, 2018
justin timberlake went against prince & his families wishes & projected prince onto a sheet & sang part of his song
— ashley (@angeIspray) February 5, 2018
The Super Bowl halftime show was a hit with the 4 year old because Justin Timberlake sang "the song from Trolls" and it had Prince in it.
— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) February 5, 2018
Smart #SuperBowl show by Justin Timberlake given the drama around his performance. Only one new song, a medley of hits, highlighted his many skills and merged his previous Prince homage Until the End of Time into an actual Prince song for a hometown tribute
— cameron adams (@cameron_adams) February 5, 2018
TMZ reported Saturday that Timberlake was set to use a hologram of Prince during his halftime show performance. But Sheila E. said Sunday in an interview with The Associated Press that a hologram won't appear.
"Prince had told me ... don't let anybody do a hologram of him for religious reasons, so I just posted that if this happened it's kind of messed up and not cool," the Grammy-nominated performer said.
"And then Justin's people reached out to my manager and wanted to talk to me about it and we had a great conversation," she added. "And I felt that it was OK to respond and let the fans know he said great things about Prince and the fans and how important they are. So it was a good conversation."
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Sheila E. made the comments ahead of her tailgate performance at Nomadic Live at The Armory in Minnesota.
Timberlake said he looked up to Prince and admired him during a press conference Thursday in Minnesota. It was the same day the pop star held a listening party for his new album at Paisley Park.
Holograms of A-list celebrities have appeared in recent years, from Tupac Shakur to Roy Orbison, whose hologram is set to go on a tour.
In an AP interview Saturday, Sting said he would not want to have his likeness portrayed in a hologram.
"I don't want to be hologrammed. I really don't. God knows who they will team me up with, you know. No. I'm going to write in my will that I am not to be hologrammed," he said.
"Roy wouldn't have even known about it," he added. "How would he know?"
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)