MTV flubs Prince tribute by playing Fresh Prince video
Prince's sudden death inspired MTV to revert back to playing music videos -- with one unfortunate consequence.
Shortly after confirmation of the passing of the music legend, the cable network suspended its normal programming to exclusively play music videos by Prince, along with multiple airings of his debut film, "Purple Rain." While the move was generally praised, there was some confusion when Will Smith appeared.
When the music video for DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" ended up in the rotation, Prince fans called foul.
It's been so long since MTV played music videos, they forgot that Prince and Fresh Prince are two different people pic.twitter.com/R6PzSn6KTE
— Ms. Anthrope (@AprilTara) April 21, 2016
lol mtv wrong prince pic.twitter.com/skTEiqBTV5
— Lindsey Adler (@Lahlahlindsey) April 21, 2016
#MTV, the "Fresh" Prince is not Prince. You had one job. One job. pic.twitter.com/xjziaMYsLa
— D'sTweets (@JKDsTweets) April 21, 2016
Lolz @MTV is playing The Fresh Prince "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" during the #Prince video marathon #fail 💜 pic.twitter.com/VS98RsRbEr
— Melknee of Internet✨ (@Melknee) April 21, 2016
Dear @mtv, @Prince is not Will Smith. Why are you playing Fresh Prince in this #Prince tribute. #fail pic.twitter.com/bh8NwpKa3r
— TT (@temisol) April 21, 2016
While they were clearly made aware of the error -- at least by viewers via Twitter -- MTV had no comment.