Following last weekend’s premiere of Aaliyah: The Princess Of R&B, which served as Lifetime’s biopic on the late singer, the film was met with tremendous criticism and even spawned hundreds of memes and social media hashtags poking fun of the movie.
Despite criticism, Wendy Williams, who served as executive producer of the film, defended the biopic on her show, “The Wendy Williams Show” yesterday (November 17). She went on to declare that Aaliyah: The Princess Of R&B “broke the internet” and says the movie was “the second highest-rated movie on all of cable this year.”
The talk show host also applauded actress Alexandra Shipp for her job as Aaliyah.
“I see my Aaliyah movie broke the internet this weekend,” Williams said. “Everybody got an opinion. Well, I must tell you, whether you loved [it or hated it] you watched. It was the second highest-rated movie on all of cable this year so far. Not just Lifetime, but all of cable…So, thank you. We all have opinions. But I must say if you still want to see the Aaliyah movie it comes on tonight at 8 o’clock on Lifetime. And by the way, you, Alexandra Shipp did a terrific job as Aaliyah.”
Among those upset following the premiere of Aaliyah: The Princess Of R&B last Saturday was producer and friend of Aaliyah’s, Timbaland. The Virginia musician posted well over a dozen memes poking fun of the film on his Instagram page.
Timbaland first posted a picture of the poster for the film with the following caption, “Hope yall not watching this!!!!!!!!”
Video of Wendy Williams responding to critics can be found below (via XXLMag).
RELATED: Aaliyah Lifetime Biopic Casts Timbaland, Missy Elliott Roles
I laughed, I cried. Terrific movie.
Best sarcastic comment ever!
You mean terrible movie.
this dudes an idiot…
“it put a dent in aaliyah’s legacy but it got high ratings though”
What dent? You mean the relationship they showed with r kelly? It actually happened, wasn’t fabricated like many said.
The entire shitty movie is the dent.
I was talking about the movie being terrible and fucking with aaliyahs legacy…we all know pedophile robert Kelly married aaliyah when she was 14-15
Once again, what’s with the fucking hate? It got details of Alliyah’s story right including her relationships, her struggles in the music and film industry, and her interviews? What more do you want, her dying in the plane crash?
You wanna know why the hate? The movie sucked. It makes Sharknado look like The Godfather and Sharknado is intentionally bad. It got everything about Aaliyah wrong, the cast was terrible, and the overall execution sucked.
The cast was great by lifetime standards. Theatrical quality can’t and shouldn’t be expected but the acting was pretty good.
But feel free to give examples on how they screwed up Aaliyah.
The casting sucks by any studio standards and the acting was terrible.
Casting and audio is your idiotic opinion but what specific facts of aaliyah did they get wrong?
No, it’s a fact. Everything you say is your opinion.
What details did they get wrong about aaliyah’s life? Answer the fucking question.
^ why do you keep fucking asking that?! It’s a movie about a singer, with NONE of her music in it!
Bad publicity will draw more ratings than lack of publicity. She played the game well cause now everyone is going to want to see how bad a move it is.
It’s nowhere near terrible.
It is terrible.
what as far as storyline goes are ppl mad about? i understand the quality of the film was terrible
if timbo was really her friend he wouldnt have let her marry pedo kelly when she was only a 15 year old girl
You’re an idiot. She was signed to R. Kelly when her first album dropped. Do the knowledge before you start dropping shitty facts, idiot.
You’re the fucking idiot. She wasn’t signed to R Kelly. She was signed to her uncle’s label who got r kelly to come and produce her album.
Pot calling the kettle black buddy?
Regardless, she wasn’t affiliated with Timbaland at the time…So you’re triple idiotic. I win dumbass.
That’s hilarious! Even if it had a big opening does NOT mean it was a success. Example, Friday the 13th remake 2009 had a HUGE opening, but after the first 2 days, it straight up flopped just because it sucked. Wendy, we don’t believe you. I’m glad karma finally caught up with this drama witch. Bwuhahahahahaha!
Let’s be honest, Aaliyah isn’t wasn’t all that interesting. She’s only known for 2 things aside from her music; her infamous marriage to R Kelly, and her untimely death by plane crash. She was only 22, that’s not enough life experience to make a good movie. The movie would have been meh regardless of who played her or who produced it. I’m not impressed
Moron.
Trolls will be trolls
I swear all the positive comments must be Lifetime employees…
Nah, I think that’s teethboy.
Lifetime should stick to chick flicks. They are not good at biopics. Hell, look at that Elizabeth Taylor movie with Lindsay Lohan.
what are you talkin about that shit was fire, Lohan did her justice.
I did. Lindsay Lohan is the spitting image of elizabeth taylor.
The movie sucked.
Liz Taylor is rolling in her grave right now thanks to that shit.
Liz would approve of it just like aaliyah if they were alive.
Neither of those two would approve of these terrible flicks.
“Wendy Williams says “Aaliyah: The Princess Of R&B” had high ratings despite criticism.”
Yes, and people watch car crashes despite how horrible they are.
Nice…
So was the point to make a genuine movie telling the story of Aaliyah, or was it a quick grab for ratings based on a highly popular artit’s name/life story? Just becuz you tricked people into watching this garbage doesn’t mean it was good. Typical mindset that killed Hiphop…”So what if he’s not the best rapper, people bought it right?”
Co-sign.
times 2
proof that thats what it was about the whole time.RATINGS.Not making a great movie that we will remember for years.RATINGS.Kill this courageoulous lion bitch NOW!!!!!
Lifetime Presents The Story Ff Lil Wayne: Played By Bushwick Bill
Lifetime Presents, The story of every person that thought this movie was hot, played by Honey Boo Boo.
Ratings mean nothing if the movie straight trash what was the number 1 cable movie prolly that Sharknado 2 bullshit FOH u nasty tranny bitch
It got great ratings. The hate is clearly in the minority.
No, it didn’t. The negative reviews are in the majority while nobody is praising it.
Yes people are praising it. I’m praising it.
teethboy must be getting paid by Lifetime to praise the godawful Aaliyah movie.
People aren’t praising it. You’re in the minority.
How is it awful. What parts did they get wrong with her life?
I just answered your question. The movie sucks. The casting, acting, script, etc., sucks. It looks low-budget and it’s clear that nobody involved with making this shit knows Aaliyah because they got everything wrong.
Then tell me what did Aaliyah do differently than they showed in the film?
Any movie about a singer that has none of her actual MUSIC, is a fail…
My documentary is dope. They got details of my relationship with R Kelly right.
teethboy, we know that’s you. The movie sucks and they didn’t get anything about Aaliyah’s life right.
What’s your fascination with “teethboy”
THIS BITCH THINK BECAUSE LOTS OF PEOPLE WATCHED IT MEANS IT WAS GOOD. FUCK WENDY WILLIAMS, THAT MOVIE WAS TRASH. THE WHOLE CAST AND DIRECTORS SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO WORK AGAIN
That was well said Trolling. Making the Aaliyah movie is a huge mistake on Lifetime’s part. You are very right to slam Wendy Williams and the people involved in making such a horrific biopic. The casting was terribly wrong. I believe the actress was a very poor choice to portray Aaliyah. I don’t think the casting for Timbaland and Missy were tasteful at all. Thank God I will never see lifetime’s version of Aaliyah’s life. I really do like Aaliyah and she and her family do not deserve this. It’s disgusting.
To be honest…i watched because of the name aaliyah…im sure that was the reason everyone watched…because they love aaliyah..but the movie was garbage truck juice…it was super spotty …the cast was horrid…and the story line did not flow at all …she was little on star search she got a deal and they end with saying she died…not freaking storyline…or did i skip past the movie for the commercials…lol
Now you know im serious about my gumbo…lol
Uh, someone needs to inform Wendy that just because something is highly successful doesn’t necessarily mean actually retains high quality. Take the immense commercial success of music groups like BEP or Nickelback for example. Not that the movie was completely and utterly bad. It sure as hell looked low-budget though. Seriously, I’ve watched cheap, amateur home movies with better filming. I think that what most people are upset about. At the end of the day, Aaliyah deserves better than this.
Love it or hate it she does have a point
she got no point. she’s just trying to score commercial points with a & e
It broke records because people were anxious to watch it. Doesn’t mean it was good. So dumb
Views does not reflect quality…That is just Promo….How many times you see a good movie trailer pay $15 bucks to see the movie and all the good parts are in the trailer….They got your $15 bucks but the movie is still wack
Yes they do actually. If it looked crap, people wouldn’t watch it. It looked great so people did. It’s quality work.
Views do not indicate quality. A video of a horrific car crash can have millions of views and no one would call it the best thing ever. There’s nothing quality about that movie and it didn’t look great. People saw it to see how bad it is.