Patti LaBelle gave a tribute to the late Tina Turner at the 2023 BET Awards Sunday night — though she struggled with the lyrics.
The 79-year-old R&B singer took the stage at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles to cover Turner’s hit song “The Best,” but she couldn’t remember the words during a few moments.
Before the first chorus, LaBelle hummed a few of the notes rather than singing the lyrics, saying, “I’m trying, y’all.”
She forgot the words another time and said, “Oh lord,” before singing a few more words.
“Whatever, I can’t see the words,” LaBelle sang to the tune of the song. “I’m trying, y’all.”
It appeared there were issues with the teleprompter, so the singer and actress couldn’t see the lyrics to the 1989 song as she was performing.
A BET spokesperson confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that LaBelle was blocked from seeing the prompter.
“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,” the spokesperson told the outlet.
“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.”
But LaBelle didn’t let that stop her and powered through the song as the crowd danced and sang along to give her encouragement and a helpful hand.
She even took the opportunity to joke about a previous performance of hers with a similar mishap.
“Where my background singers?” LaBelle quipped, referring to her performance of “This Christmas” at the 1996 National Tree Lighting Ceremony, when the cue cards were out of order.
“God bless you, Tina Turner, BET, hip-hop!” she said at the end of the performance.
But watchers on Twitter knocked the performance, suggesting that LaBelle must not have memorized the song and joking about Turner’s reaction from heaven.
One person tweeted a video from the audience sharing that LaBelle couldn’t see the prompter with the lyrics bc her section was standing in front of it.
“Patti LaBelle versus teleprompters… a decades long battle…,” one user tweeted, calling back to her 1996 performance.
“Tina Turner in heaven right now after miss Patti LaBelle didn’t know her lyrics,” another said with a video of a woman being held back.
“Ike Turner in hell watching Patti Labelle mess up the words,” someone wrote, mentioning Turner’s abusive ex-husband who died in 2007.
“Miss Patti no you didn’t y’all know damn well miss Patti needs to see them damn lyrics #BETAwards why you got Miss Patti out there looking like that she hitting them notes, but ain’t got them lyrics. We still love her though,” a fan said.
“Twitter is going to light up Patti LaBelle for that tribute to Tina Turner when they should bow down and shut their mouths. That woman is 79 years old and paved the way for just about every other singer in that room. Clearly she couldn’t see the words to the song, didn’t know the song and couldn’t hear the monitors to get the key,” another defended the singer.
“Also, BET should have chosen for her to sing ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ or a song that she could’ve crushed, but to be cliche they picked ‘The Best.’ All of y’all should shut up and respect greatness. I’ve seen Patti about 100 times in concert and she crushes it every single time. Go slander your own selves who can’t carry a tune to save your lives and are watching on 43 inch TVs while she goes home to a house with a home theatre.”
Turner died in May at the age of 83 from natural causes peacefully in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. The iconic singer passed following a bout with cancer, a stroke, and kidney troubles, but her representatives confirmed to the Daily Mail that she died of natural causes.
The news of the death of the queen of rock ‘n’ roll was shared on her Instagram account.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow,” the statement read. “Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”