Advertisement

BET Awards Prince tribute to include Sheila E., The Roots, D'Angelo, Janelle Monae

By Yvette C. Hammett
Prince performs at half time at Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium in Miami in 2007. Prince died in April at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
1 of 5 | Prince performs at half time at Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium in Miami in 2007. Prince died in April at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

NEW YORK, June 7 (UPI) -- Prince will be honored June 26 during the 2016 BET Awards with live performances by Sheila E., The Roots, D'Angelo, Janelle Monae and others, BET Networks announced.

Prince, who received the BET Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, died in April of a drug overdose. He was 57.

Advertisement

Since his untimely death, a number of artists have paid tribute to Prince, including Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen, Rolling Stone reported. Madonna was also among them, closing out the Billboard Awards with a tribute that reportedly polarized Prince fans.

She performed "Nothing Compares 2 U" and "Purple Rain" along with Questlove and Stevie Wonder.

Questlove defended Madonna in tweets, saying, "A lot of us are left feeling incomplete in the act of saying goodbye."

Questlove went on to say that fans mourning Prince were doing so in stages, and that anger was winning, Entertainment reported.

Advertisement

BET announced that the awards show will be hosted by Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross. Other performers include Maxwell and Alicia Keys.

"While fans, and authorities, have been struggling to make sense of why he died (the medical examiner officially concluded last week that it was from an overdose of 'self-administered fantanyl,' a powerful painkiller he reportedly took to ease his hip and ankle pains), BET is focusing on celebrating his incredible life and unparalleled contributions to music," the network said on its web site.

Latest Headlines