Celebs React to Prince’s Death: Spike Lee Throws Dance Party, JHud Sings, Stevie Wonder Says ‘He Influenced Me’

Sinema Blaze

Sinema Blaze

 

Many celebrities have been impacted by Prince’s sudden death at 57 yesterday. Their reactions have poured in steadily online.

Will Smith revealed he spoke to Prince the night before he died.

Oprah took inspiration from the fashionable singer’s song “When Doves Cry” for her tweet.

Aretha Franklin told ABC News the legend’s death “was just a blow  — a real blow…. He had longevity in the industry simply because he was a natural and he had ‘it’. What they call ‘it’ in the business,” adding “he’s gone, but his music will live on forever.”

TV personality Sherri Shepard shared a memory of Prince on “The View,” something she said she “will cherish forever.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEeTwQIoLu2/?taken-by=sherrieshepherd

Usher received the bad news after arriving home from Cuba.

Actress Tracee Ellis Ross, who currently stars on “black-ish,” tweeted a photo of the icon with a broken heart emoji.

 

To honor Prince,  Spike Lee threw an impromptu dance party Thursday night. The celebration was held at his 40 Acres & a Mule Filmworks production company in Brooklyn, New York. Hundreds of people attended.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEe-ikTta3V/

 

Broadway gave Prince lots of love. Jennifer Hudson led the cast of “The Color Purple” in a rendition of  “Purple Rain.”

 

Stevie Wonder, one of the late singer’s inspirations, spoke with CBS This Morning on Prince’s passing. He told the network Prince influenced him, too.

“I always wanted to play the guitar and so I found this instrument about three years ago. And so I’m going to have a similar sound. You know, just based on me liking the guitar and liking what it was to be another way of expressing music.”

Watch Wonder’s full interview with the morning show below.

 

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top