BET unveil Prince tribute performers
Sheila E., The Roots, D’Angelo and Janelle Monae will take part in a tribute to Prince at the 2016 BET Awards.
The ‘Purple Rain’ singer – who died from a fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park estate in April at the age of 57 – will be the subject of a "special musical celebration" at the ceremony later this month.
More performers are expected to be added to the tribute line-up in the coming weeks.
Announcing the line-up on June 7, Prince’s birthday, BET said "star-studded moments" celebrating the life and career of Prince will be spread throughout the show.
The network previously took a swipe at the Billboard Music Awards, which featured a tribute to Prince from Madonna, Questlove and Stevie Wonder.
Just moments after they took to the stage, BET released a teaser which said: "Yeah, we saw that. Don’t worry. We got you."
The ‘Rebel Heart’ singer later hit back at BET with a post on Instagram.
She wrote: "Wearing the jacket Prince gave me back in the day without permission from BET. Lol! Good Bless America.(sic)"
Questlove also defended the tribute, insisting people would always be unhappy with any memorial performances.
He posted: "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 [to] grips [with] the fact that Prince – (an on the surface) face of health & invincible agelessness – [succumbed] to something so… friggin basic.(sic)"
The 2016 BET Awards take place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on June 26.
‘Black-ish’ stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross are hosting the show, while Alicia Keys and Maxwell were previously announced as performing at the ceremony.
