While Justin Timberlake's aggressively serviceable halftime performance at Super Bowl LII was overshadowed by Philadelphia's underdog victory, the tribute to Minneapolis' favourite son Prince seemed genuinely heartfelt, with JT duetting with the Purple One beyond the grave on "I Would Die 4 U." That enormous projection of Prince that appeared behind Timberlake was apparently a totally chill move though, according to longtime associate Sheila E.Via an interview with ET, Sheila E. revealed that Timberlake's team had reached out to her about the tribute and that she'd repeatedly insisted that no Tupac-at-Coachella-style hologram revival would be used.
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It's beautifully Prince-as-hell that he thought holograms were the devil's work. He was famously protective of his art and image, with much of his music and videos only appearing online legally after his death in April 2016.Sheila had previously [tweeted her displeasure](http://Sheila E. Seems to Have Talked Justin Timberlake Out of That Prince Hologram) about the rumours that a hologram would be used, but told ET that a pre-show talk with Timberlake and show designer David Cho was productive: "we had a good conversation, and then I assured the fans that there is no hologram.” Cho also took to Instagram to confirm that he and Timberlake were "never" going to use a hologram. Strangely, there is no discussion of Timberlake and Prince's beef in the mid 00s, but maybe it's all Purple Rain under the bridge at this point. You can read the rest of the ET interview with Sheila E. here.Phil is on Twitter.“I just said no. I just felt that it was too soon,” she told ET. “The hologram was weird, and Prince did tell me [to] make sure nobody ever does a hologram of me. ‘If you’re still here, make sure nobody does a hologram.’ He thought it was very demonic and that’s his spiritual beliefs.”