Prince goes the way of Bowie and 2016 is a bit of a bastard. The iconic entertainer passed away in his Minnesota recording studio on Thursday and, given his standing in world music and culture, there's been no shortage of hyperbole in the tributes that have been paid to the 57 year old and nor should their be.
Sometimes however, it's difficult to know what you can say to adequately pay tribute to someone whom you may not have known but nonetheless you'd like to mark their passing. That's particularly the case when you're someone in the public eye, people will be reading your tribute and you want to strike the right note.
Mike Tyson may be a bit of an enigma and he can get away with quite a bit more than other well known individuals can but we're not quite sure if he's hit the mark with his tribute to Prince and his eponymous 1979 album.
#supertribute to #Prince #RIP Like the world I mourn but celebrate your spirit with your music pic.twitter.com/NhdPnHRwa9
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) April 22, 2016
Don't get us wrong, we absolutely laughed our heads off but that's not really the point when you're trying to pay tribute to a deceased individual. It would appear that Tyson hasn't actually commissioned this work of art and he's merely passing it on along with some kind words, but nonetheless, no one is really going to bother paying attention to the words when 'Printhe' is staring down at you like that.
Not quite in a similar standing but nonetheless noteworthy is Bernie Slaven's rather stark message to his Twitter followers this morning. It must be said that when news broke yesterday, Slaven went for the perfectly respectful 'Tragic news about Prince - the Greatest Entertainer I've ever witnessed'.
The former Ireland international has followed that up this morning with a rather more philosophical look at Prince's legacy.
All employee's should write this across there face just like the late Great Prince. That's all we are I'm afraid. pic.twitter.com/YAef6CZlUl
— BERNIE SLAVEN (@bernieslaven) April 22, 2016
Ah jaysus Bernie, that's a bit dark. Unfortunately for the former Middlesbrough striker, he really would have needed to photoshop in an 'N' onto the end of Prince's face there if he wanted to match Tyson's effort.
