Prince turns pancakes into profits
Prince’s pop cultural popularity crested in the ’80s and ’90s, but younger generations learned more about him from an unexpected source: Comedian Dave Chappelle. His brief, popular sketch comedy series The Chappelle Show had a hilarious (and true!) segment on Prince’s obsession with breakfast. It mocked everything, from his sexy persona to his slight 5’2″ build.
It could have been as damaging as South Park skewering Kanye West. Instead, the musician reportedly did not respond to the comedian’s jokes… until a decade later, when he used a still shot of Chappelle dressed as Prince for his single “Breakfast Can Wait”.
Let’s recap: A pop star mercilessly teased on an extremely popular show uses a clip from said show to sell records.
“That’s a Prince judo move right there,” Chappelle said on a talk show. “You make fun of Prince in a sketch and he’ll just use you as an album cover. What am I going to do, sue him for using a picture of me dressed up like him? It’s impossible. That’s checkmate right there!”
Lesson: It’s not what happens that creates a loss, but how you react to it
Paul Benger 