Watch Madonna & Stevie Wonder Cover Prince At The Billboard Music Awards

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Watch Madonna & Stevie Wonder Cover Prince At The Billboard Music Awards

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Madonna paid tribute to her friend and collaborator Prince to close out tonight’s Billboard Music Awards. Questlove introduced the singer, who made her entrance on a huge purple throne and proceeded to perform a somber rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Stevie Wonder then joined her on stage to sing “Purple Rain.” Watch the performance below.

UPDATE: As expected there were plenty of gripes on social media about the performance, including this shady tweet from BET (who will stage a Prince tribute at their awards next month)…

Questlove has chimed in to defend the Madonna performance and these tributes in general.

UPDATE 2: Madonna responds to the criticism.

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