Patti LaBelle botches BET Awards 2023 tribute to Tina Turner: ‘I’m tryin’, y’all’
Patti LaBelle accidentally flubbed her tribute to late music icon Tina Turner during the 2023 BET Awards Sunday night.
LaBelle was singing Turner’s hit song “The Best” when she paused for a moment and admitted she was having trouble reading the teleprompter.
“I can’t see the words – I don’t know, I’m tryin’, y’all,” she half-sang, half-talked at one point.
But LaBelle, 79, quickly regrouped and picked back up as the crowd laughed off her mishap.
The “If Only You Knew” songstress later told Entertainment Tonight that she tried her “best” to get through the awkward flub.
“It meant no matter what voice I’m in – I’m hoarse, I have a cold – but whatever, I had to, I was giving it up for Tina Turner, ’cause she’s simply the best,” LaBelle said.
“So you heard a little tweak every now and then out there, but I love her, and I did my best.”
Meanwhile, the BET Awards shared their support for LaBelle and blamed the “crowd’s enthusiasm” for blocking her view of the teleprompter.
“Due to the crowd’s enthusiasm, the teleprompter was obstructed, obscuring Ms. LaBelle’s view of the lyrics,” the organization told Page Six in a statement.
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”Nonetheless, we couldn’t be more grateful to Ms. LaBelle for lending her incredible talent to this moment.”
The awards show emphasized that it was still an “extraordinary privilege to celebrate the life and legacy” of the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll with the “incomparable” LaBelle.
Page Six has reached out to reps for LaBelle and the BET Awards for comment.
Turner died on May 24 of natural causes after suffering from a “long illness” at her $76 million mansion in Küsnacht, Switzerland. She was 83.
