With charming sitcom New Girl now on Netflix, fans have been rewatching the show that made Zooey Deschanel the Queen of Kooky, while those new to the comedy have found something light and inoffensive to binge. The programme ran for an impressive seven seasons, and earned millions of fans. Impressively, they included Prince, the late great singer. So enamoured was he with the programme that he even approached the team behind it to request a cameo, and he fulfilled this ambition in a season 3 episode. But the appearance came with a demand: no Kardashians.
The episode saw main character Jess attend a part thrown by Prince. Naturally, the bash would be attended by the great and the good. Even members of the Kardashian family were invited to shoot scenes, the perfect sign that an event was totally A List. But Prince's team were not happy, allegedly insisting that he would have nothing to do with anyone in the clan.
'I’m not sure exactly how the celebrities were chosen, but someone was friends with some of the Kardashians and had made a phone call, and they had kindly come on to shoot a little cameo part where they were at Prince’s party, which I didn’t really know about because it kept changing,' Zooey revealed in 2016. Deschanel explains.
'I get there the day Prince is supposed to arrive, and I’m studying my lines, and one of the PAs comes in, and she says, "I need all of the [scripts]." She takes mine from me and takes everybody else’s, and takes everyone’s call sheets.' Zooey soon discovered that the PA in question had set a bonfire and burned all proof of the Kardashians' involvement. 'It turns out that someone from Prince’s camp said like, "Who are the celebrities? I hope it’s not a Kardashian," which is sad, because I think Khloé Kardashian and Kris Jenner had kindly come in and shot the scene. But Prince was running the show.'
Lamorne Morris, who played Jess's roommate Winston, has since corroborated the story, but stopped short of actually naming the Kardashians, choosing to refer to them as 'blank blank' instead. 'Prince shows up early, so he’s sitting in video village, and he’s watching the screen, and he goes, "What are the blank blanks doing here?" They said, "Well, they’re in the show. They’ve been invited to a Prince party." He goes, ‘They would never be invited to a Prince party.’” Ouch.
We may never know why Prince disliked the Kardashians so much. But it could come down to a 2011 incident where the legendary singer invited Kim onto the stage at a concert. So unenthused was he with her resulting moves that he told her to get off the stage.
Whatever the reason for the drama, the episode is a highlight in the show's seven-year run. Maybe Kim could return for a reunion episode?
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