Patti LaBelle Gives Powerful and Uplifting Tribute to Tina Turner at BET Awards Despite Forgetting the Lyrics to “(Simply) the Best”
Patti LaBelle gave a powerful and joyful performance in tribute to Tina Turner at Sunday’s BET Awards, even if she couldn’t quite remember all of the lyrics.
LaBelle hit the stage to pay her respects to Turner, who died May 24, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles about halfway through the live telecast.
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LaBelle sang Turner’s “(Simply) the Best,” but she forgot the words during a few moments.
“I’m trying, y’all,” she said after humming a few notes before hitting the chorus the first time.
When she forget the lyrics a second time, she said “Oh lord” before singing a couple more words of the song, and then sang, “Whatever, I can’t see the words” to the song’s tune. “I’m trying, y’all,” she told the crowd again.
The crowd danced and sang along to LaBelle, who exuberantly powered through nonetheless and finished seemingly without another major hitch.
“God bless you, Tina Turner, BET, hip-hop!” she exclaimed at the end of her performance.
Asked for comment, a BET spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter of the snafu: “It was an extraordinary privilege to celebrate the life and legacy of Ms. Tina Turner at BET Awards 2023. Having the incomparable Ms. Patti LaBelle on our stage honoring one of her contemporaries was an equal privilege. Due to the crowd’s enthusiasm, the teleprompter was obstructed, obscuring Ms. LaBelle’s view of the lyrics. Nonetheless, we couldn’t be more grateful to Ms. LaBelle for lending her incredible talent to this moment.”
Pattie LaBelle performs the tribute to Tina Turner at the #BETAwards pic.twitter.com/QqTPb1xbAB
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) June 26, 2023
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