Madonna hits back at Prince tribute criticism: 'Don't hang your s*** on me'

The singer posted a series of defiant Instagram messages
Paying tribute: Madonna was joined by Stevie Wonder
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Emma Powell24 May 2016
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Madonna has defended her tribute to Prince at the Billboard Music Awards after she was heavily criticised by viewers.

The Queen of Pop took to the stage in a purple suit as she sang Nothing Compares 2 U before being joined by Stevie Wonder for a duet of Purple Rain.

But the performance was branded “offensive” by some who criticised show bosses for selecting the Material Girl singer to lead the tribute.

In a series of defiant Instagram messages, Madonna wrote: "Anyone who wants to do a tribute to Prince is welcome to. Whatever your age, gender or skin colour. If you loved him and he inspired you then show it! I love Prince 4 ever."

She later posted a video of herself dancing alongside the caption: "This is my 'I'm not your b**** don't hang your s*** on me' dance."

Piers Morgan was among those who blasted her performance – which he described as “poor karaoke”.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, he said: "I’m not churlish but I felt as a tribute to prince, doing a poor karaoke version of Sinead O’connor’s version of a Prince song just wasn’t appropriate.”

Madonna - who was friends with the late singer - came under fire from critics soon after she was confirmed for the musical tribute.

A Change.org petition was launched calling for her to be replaced by members of Prince's band forcing Mark Bracco, the show’s executive producer, to defend the decision.

Billboard Music Awards 2016

1/32

"Listen, I think everybody is entitled to their opinion and everyone can have their own opinion, but I will say that we are honoured and could not be more excited for Madonna to be on the show and to pay tribute to someone that was her friend and her peer and her colleague," Bracco said.

“It’s going to be very, very intimate and very respectful, and I think it’s something that is really going to pay tribute to Prince as the incredible, ground-breaking artist that he was and the influence that he had on music."

Follow @StandardShowbiz for more entertainment news.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in