Rumored Prince Hologram Fails To Materialize During The Super Bowl Halftime Show

Image via NFL/YouTube.

THE GOOD NEWS:

After his untimely death, Prince’s family is honoring his wishes.

Before Prince’s untimely death in 2016, the Minneapolis native was in talks to play the first concert at the then-under-construction $1.1-billion U.S. Bank Stadium. So it was fitting the NFL planned a tribute to the artist during Super Bowl LII, the first to be played in the new arena.

In the week before the Super Bowl, rumors began to circulate that the halftime performance, featuring Justin Timberlake, would include a Prince hologram. Prince fans were understandably upset by the rumor, until Prince’s former collaborator and one-time fiancée Sheila E. set the record straight.

A Twitter account run by Prince’s brother, Omarr Baker, said that he did not authorize the use of any Prince hologram.

There a few things tackier than seeing a performance by the hologram of a deceased person, and Prince had spoken out against holograms in the past. “That’s the most demonic thing imaginable,” Prince told Guitar World in 1998. “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, 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.”

While there was no Prince hologram onstage during the halftime show, Timberlake did perform “I Would Die 4 U” alongside a projection of His Royal Badness. The Super Bowl also paid tribute to Prince by projecting his symbol outside the stadium.

Prince gave an incredible performance during the 2007 Super Bowl Halftime show. It’s widely considered the best in Super Bowl halftime history.