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Forget the hologram drama, Prince fans are still VERY upset over Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl halftime performance ... and it all stems from an interview the Purple One did in 1998.

At the time, Prince sat down with Guitar World Magazine and was asked about the trend of live musicians using technology to duet with someone who had passed away ... think Natalie Cole's version of "Unforgettable" she did with her dad.

Here's what Prince said at the time ...

Guitar World: "With digital editing, it is now possible to create a situation where you could jam with any artist from the past. Would you ever consider doing something like that?"

Prince: "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."

So, when Timberlake used Prince's voice and image to create a duet -- seems like JT did exactly what Prince didn't want.

There's more ...

Sinbad, the comedian, went off on social media about the drama between JT and Prince that started back in 2006 when Timberlake dropped "Sexy Back."

At the time, Prince joked that sexy never left ... and Timberlake responded with a diss verse in "Give It To Me" in which he said to Prince, "Don't hate on me just because you didn't come up with it."

Timberlake later pulled a stunt where he lowered the mic for Prince to mock his height at the Golden Globes.

Sinbad called Timberlake a "punk ass" for the performance -- and seems to want Timberlake to apologize.

Don't hold your breath ...

Cardi B's mouth is coming back to bite her in the ass ... though it's close to being frozen shut.

We got the "Bodak Yellow" rapper Sunday night arriving at The Armory in Minneapolis and asked her about Super Bowl 52 (the Eagles won, btw) and Justin Timberlake's halftime tribute to Prince.

Cardi could barely utter a couple of F-bombs ... that's how cold she was, which is odd since back in November 2015, she straight up said "A ho never gets cold." At -2 degrees, yes they do.

Brr.

Hey Eagles, you just won the Super Bowl. What are you gonna do next?!

PARTY WITH DIPLO!!!

Everyone from coach Doug Pederson to running back LeGarratte Blount hit up the Minneapolis Armory after beating the Patriots to get their party on ... and TMZ Sports has the video.

Doug danced with the trophy ... but the place went CRAZY when Diplo -- one of the biggest DJs in the world -- bumped some Meek Mill, the unofficial rap artist of the Eagles.

Cardi B also performed -- the crowd loved her!

It's a different Gisele this time around ...

Instead of complaining that her husband can't throw AND catch the ball after the Super Bowl (like she did in 2012), Tom Brady's wife is congratulating the Philadelphia Eagles on winning the big game.

She's also reminding everyone her husband's the greatest of all time.

"Congratulations Eagles for winning the Super bowl, what a game that was," Gisele posted on Instagram.

"Congratulations Patriots for giving your best and to my love, we are incredibly proud of you because we are able to see ever day all the commitment, sacrifice and hard work that you have devoted to become the best in what you do. We love you!"

Well, this is disgusting ... an Eagles fan in a throwback Randall Cunningham jersey ate horse feces off the ground in Philadelphia last night.

Yup.

And why? Because he was happy ... we think.

By the way, it's not like people were trying to talk him out of it -- you can hear the crowd of fellow Philly fans cheering him on as he puts his face right up in the crap.

Cops insist nobody died in the crazy Super Bowl celebration ... so, Mr. Poo-Eater here clearly survived the stunt.

Frightening moment at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Philadelphia last night ... when crazed Eagles fans climbed on top of the awning and it collapsed with tons of people on top.

Moments before the incident, fans were stage diving from the awning into the crowd. People were cheering and going crazy.

But too many people got on the awning and it collapsed.

All cops have said so far is that no one died in the revelry.

President Trump fired off a tweet congratulating the Philadelphia Eagles on beating his former friend Tom Brady's squad in the Super Bowl.

Trump -- who was mostly quiet during the game (if ya bet the under on SB tweets, ya won) -- hit up Twitter and said ... "Congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles on a great Super Bowl victory!"

FYI -- Eagles player Chris Long said last week there was no chance he'd visit the White House if the Eagles won the Lombardi Trophy.

Kevin Hart got HAMMERED at the Super Bowl -- and was so drunk, he dropped an F-Bomb live on the NFL Network.

Can't really blame Hart ... he's a hardcore Eagles fan and he had just watched his team beat the New England Patriots live in Minnesota.

But when they brought him on the "NFL GameDay Prime" post-game show with Deion Sanders and company ... he was hyped up, slurring and, really, 3-sheets to the wind.

After Deion personally escorted him off the stage, Hart left ... and made a drunken Instagram video trying to explain himself. It's pretty hilarious.

Enjoy the hangover.

FYI, Hart was also straight-up REJECTED trying to sneak into the Eagles' post-game celebration. Probably for the best.

Martin Luther King Jr. might have starred in the most important Super Bowl commercial of the year ... according to Jim Jones, anyway.

If you missed it ... Dodge used a 1968 MLK speech -- about service and community -- for its Ram trucks spot. Using his words to push truck sales rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

But Sunday night outside Craig's in WeHo, Jim had more of a silver linings reaction to the controversy.

The way Jim sees it ... there's nothing bad about MLK's words reaching more than 100 million viewers -- many of them young kids, who might be getting their first exposure to the iconic civil rights leader.

Justin Timberlake's gonna have words with the audio guys, because they ruined his Super Bowl halftime performance.

JT hit the stage Sunday -- his first shot at redemption since the infamous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction -- and this go-around didn't go much better.

The singer was almost impossible to hear, sometimes muted and sometimes almost silent. Meanwhile, his backup singers could be heard crystal clear.

It's unclear if he knew the mic was wonky.

The halftime show should have been sponsored by Verizon ... and the answer is no.

Floyd Mayweather CAN'T STAND being outta the spotlight ... so his videos teasing a UFC fight don't mean crap -- so says Oscar De La Hoya.

We got Oscar leaving LAX ... and he told us why fans shouldn't put any stock into the clips of Floyd stuntin' inside an MMA cage.

"He can't let anybody else have attention, so he does this," De La Hoya told TMZ Sports.

Oscar says it's obvious Mayweather's "never" gonna take his talents into the Octagon. As he told us last week, Floyd would be dead if he tried.

But never say never, Oscar ... 'cause Showtime Sports honcho Stephen Espinoza told us he's meeting with Mayweather to discuss the possibility.

Stay tuned ...

Here's a little of breakdown of what dating Aaron Rodgers means for Danica Patrick on and off the track -- courtesy of Danica's NASCAR bud, Kevin Harvick.

1) Harvick says the A-Rod mojo does NOT make Danica a better racer.

2) Harvick says being Rodgers' bae probably DOES make Danica a bigger superstar ... which, given the fact that she's retiring soon, is definitely a good thing.

FYI, Danica went public with their relationship last month -- the day after TMZ Sports got the first pic of them together -- but they've kept it on the low ever since.

The Philadelphia Eagles did the impossible with a backup QB -- they defeated Tom Brady to win Super Bowl LII ... and then melted their faces off in celebration.

Nick Foles and the rest of the Eagles soaked up the incredible victory Sunday after their 41-33 win over the New England Patriots, ahead of being presented with the Lombardi Trophy.

Some players hugged, others cried ... and some even did snow angels in the confetti on the field.

Meanwhile, Pats head coach Bill Belichick didn't seem too fazed by the loss ... dude's got 5 Super Bowl rings under his belt with Tom at the helm. He can afford to lose one.

Justin Timberlake followed through on his plan to honor Prince during his Super Bowl halftime show ... projecting a video of the late singer instead of a full-blown hologram.

JT paid tribute to Prince about halfway through the show with a partial cover of "I Would Die 4 U" -- during which Justin was on piano, and Prince's image appeared on a giant flowing sheet behind him.

As we reported ... Justin was expected to use a straight up hologram during the performance. We were later told it would simply be a video projection of Prince rather than a hologram ... and it looks like they stuck to that.

Prince's ex, Sheila E., and his brother, Omarr Baker, both objected to a Prince hologram and assured fans this weekend that one would not appear.

P!nk appears to have beaten the flu ... 'cause she just nailed the National Anthem for Super Bowl LII.

The pop singer was front and center Sunday to belt out the "Star-Spangled Banner" ahead of kickoff, and despite some earlier concerns about being able to perform due to catching the flu ... P!nk killed it on the mic.

As we reported ... P!nk was forecasting some potential trouble on Thursday during a rehearsal, saying she was praying she'd be able to get over some flu symptoms that were bogging her down.