Justin Timberlake Attempts To Explain His Super Bowl Halftime Show Performance
Fans cheered when Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles led the team to victory. However, viewers had different opinions when it came to Justin Timberlake's performance.
Blame It On Questlove?
After Timberlake left the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, he visited his longtime friend, Jimmy Fallon, on The Tonight Show. Fallon asked his longtime friend about his Prince homage.
The "Cry Me a River" singer stated that he turned to one of Prince's acolytes, the Roots member and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon music director Questlove, to see if it was a good idea.
"Questlove is the encyclopedia of music, but I also feel like a gatekeeper on Prince, so if I got the thumbs-up from Questlove, I'm good," Timberlake said to Vanity Fair.
Timberlake Summons Prince
Once Questlove gave his blessing to Timberlake, the "Say Something" singer and his creative team decided to create one of the 2018 Halftime Show's most talked about moment.
The "Take Back the Night" singer-songwriter's tribute to one of Minneapolis's native sons, the late musician Prince.
As Timberlake performed "I Would Die 4 U" on a white baby grand piano, a massive image of the "Purple Rain" performer appeared in front of a giant screen and the duo "sang" several bars of the song together.
Prince's Fans Hit Back Hard
Many of the "U Got The Look" performer's devoted fans furiously took to Twitter and focused their rage on Timberlake.
Prince's fans have apparently not yet forgiven Timberlake for making fun of their hero several times throughout the past two decades. From making fun of Prince's height at an awards ceremony to even stepping into Prince's hollowed home of Paisley Park, fans showcased a colorful combination of vocabulary and GIFs to showcase their rage.
"To honor #Prince would be to respect his wishes, not to capitalize off of him for your own name. #JustinTimberlake is disgusting," wrote one Twitter fan.
"Honoring Prince is a good thing. Disrespecting his wishes and using his image anyway is damned disrespectful," wrote another fan.
In addition to outraged Prince fans, others thought that the Super Bowl Halftime Show was boring and even booed at Timberlake through social media.
Timberlake's Fans Rally
To counter the negativity that the Prince fans were spreading, the "Raspberry Beret" singer's family posted a tweet that showcased their support of Timberlake's performance.
@jtimberlake https://t.co/ldBaIZxPhP
— PRNFamily® (@PRNFamily) February 5, 2018
Other celebrities such as Fallon, Ellen DeGeneres, and Rob Lowe took to Twitter to offer Timberlake their support.
Despite not seeing either Janet Jackson or NSYNC performing with him, Timberlake's fans also added their own praise of their own by calling him a class act and envied the selfie kid.
Twitter told Forbes that there were 1.8 million tweets during the halftime show.
Timberlake's Next Move
After paying tribute to Prince at the Super Bowl and on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Timberlake is expected to prepare for his upcoming "Man in the Woods" North American tour. The tour is expected to start on March 13 in Toronto, Canada's Air Canada Centre.
Timberlake will return to the United States on March 18 to perform in Washington, D.C. The "Man in the Woods" North American tour will make stops in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Omaha.
