5 hilarious celebrity encounters with Prince
Prince may be gone, but he leaves behind a collection of legendary music – and some pretty epic stories, too. Here are some funny celebrity encounters with The Purple One.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
In his memoir “Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove,” The Roots’ drummer shared that he went skating with Prince in the middle of the night on Valentine’s Day.
“I got a text from Prince’s assistant. That’s how things go in the Prince universe: You get a pre‑message saying that a phone message is coming later,” he wrote.
Prince wanted Questlove to come to a roller-skating party that night, so he showed up at the designated rink at 1 a.m. with his girlfriend and Eddie Murphy (just because).
They skated on the almost empty rink for an hour with no sign of Prince but just as they were about to leave, Prince arrives carrying a big briefcase.
He sets it down and was about to open it but hesitated. Then he stopped and asked Questlove for his phone.
“I know you have it, Ahmir. Where is it?”
Questlove took it out and was instructed to put it in coat check. Without much of a choice (it was Prince after all), Questlove complied.
“When I got back, Prince had the briefcase out on the floor. He clicked the lock and opened it, and took out the strangest, most singular pair of roller skates I had ever seen. They were clear skates that lit up, and the wheels sent a multicolored spark trail into your path.”
“He took them out and did a big lap around the rink. Man. He could skate like he could sing. I watched him go, so transfixed that I didn’t even notice Eddie Murphy appearing at my arm. “I’m going to go get your phone for you,” he said.”
Kesha
Despite living in a $10 million estate, Prince’s home security system was clearly lacking as Kesha revealed on The Tonight Show to Jimmy Fallon.
The pop star broke into Prince’s home early in her music career to pass him a demo of her music.
“It was so easy,” she said. “I just cruised up in my dead grandpa’s car and I get out and there’s a gardener in the front yard. So I said here’s $5… I’m just going to slide under this gate.”
It worked, she snuck under the fence and made her way to his front door — which was unlocked.
“It’s basically an invitation,” she told Fallon. “So I walked in and everything was purple velvet.” (Just as we’d imagine!)
“I walked into the elevator and there’s Prince music playing!” she said. “I go up in the elevator and… I’m on the phone with my mom being like ‘I think I might get arrested.’”
When she got out, there he was — playing a guitar with a beanie on.
“I almost pooped my pants!”
When Prince spotted her, he just “looked at [her] funny,” she said. “I just got a look like ‘who the hell are you?’ So I just waved around the CD, put it on the table and then I ran away.”
“Did you every hear back from him?” asked Fallon.
“Not yet.”
Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah told Jimmy Fallon that he met the pop icon at a party thrown by Michael Jordan.
“We were in the same elevator at this hotel in New York called The Palace. I saw him and thought ‘That’s Prince! Prince is right there! OK be cool be cool. Don’t touch Prince! Don’t touch him.’”
Prince was there to perform at Jordan’s party and Queen Latifah, who declared that Prince was a major influence and her idol, made sure to secure a spot at the front of the stage.
“But then he looked at me and called me up there and said ‘Come up! Come up on stage!’ And I said ‘No! I can’t come up there, Prince! You Prince!’” she said. “But I went.”
Other celebrities present (including Questlove) were also invited on stage for an impromptu dance party, but she and Questlove ended up chilling on a couch with Prince as he played the keyboard because Prince is just cool like that.
Jimmy Fallon
After Queen Latifah told her story, Fallon shared an almost-encounter with the man himself.
While attending Prince’s concert, the artist’s management comes up to Fallon and asks for him to come up on stage at the end of the concert as Prince would like to dance with him
“I go no, ‘I’m not a dancer. I don’t know what you’re talking about. No thank you. I’m just watching the show,’” said Fallon.
A while later, he gets another tap on his shoulder — it was someone from Prince’s team inviting him on stage once again. Fallon declined, once again.
At the end of the show, Questlove (why is he in almost every Prince story?) approaches Fallon and says, “Come on! Let’s go on stage. Everyone does it, it’s fun.”
Fallon finally agrees and reluctantly follows Questlove on stage. However, Questlove ducks behind the drum set, Prince disappears in an elevator that descended below the stage, leaving Fallon dancing by himself on stage.
“It was the worst, most embarrassing thing in my entire life!” he said.
Carlos Boozer
The NBA star rented out his home to Prince once but Prince, being Prince, wasn’t satisfied with the house and wanted to put his own spin on it.
According to Boozer’s former teammate Jay Williams, Prince changed the front gate to the Prince sign, transformed the master bedroom into a hair salon and changed the water in the fountain that led to the front door purple. He even knocked down walls and changed the ceiling moulding.
Boozer was understandably angry but before he could confront Prince about it, Prince wrote him a check for $1 million to cover the damages.
Truly Nothing Compares 2 U, Prince.
