Prince drummer: Justin Timberlake told me there will be no hologram of Prince at Super Bowl halftime

The speculation over whether Justin Timberlake will pay tribute to Prince at his Super Bowl halftime performance has gotten to the point where there’s a prop bet (via OddsShark, Yes is -1700, No is +800) on it.

But thanks to the power of technology, we now have to wonder if JT will bring out a virtual Prince to duet with.

The answer, according to legendary Prince drummer Sheila E., is nope: No Prince hologram will grace the stage at U.S. Bank Stadium:

First off, this would get me running to my nearest sportsbook, but let’s focus on the hologram thing. Perhaps she asked Timberlake because of what Prince said in 1998 to Guitar World (hat tip to CBS Sports for unearthing this) about getting to jam with a past musician through the magic of technology:

Certainly not. That’s the most demonic thing imaginable. Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing… it really is demonic. And I am not a demon. Also, what they did with that Beatles song [“Free As a Bird”], manipulating John Lennon’s voice to have him singing from across the grave… that’ll never happen to me. To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control.