Philly musician's change of heart about prom performance

Bob Brooks Image
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Philly musician's change of heart about prom performance
Philly musician's change of heart about prom performance. Bob Brooks reports during Action News at 4:30 p.m. on May 19, 2017.

FAIRLESS HILLS, Pa. (WPVI) -- One of Philadelphia's best-known musician's change of heart is making students in Fairless Hills, Bucks County very happy.

Questlove, the frontman of the Roots, cancelled his performance at Pennsbury High School's prom earlier this week - just days before the big dance.

But that all changed Friday morning, thanks in part to a big social media push from students.

Pennsbury High proudly proclaims their prom is "The Best Prom in America." It's always held at the school, and this year's theme is "Yo Philly."

Jessica Taylor, Prom Chairperson said, "We have the magic gardens, we have Philly sports. We have food, and entertainment."

Moira Jasler, Prom Chairperson added, "We have been working on this since last spring when we were juniors. We've met every week planning things."

Part of the reason the students earned that title is their knack for booking big time entertainment. This year's act Philadelphia native Amir Thompson, also known as Questlove.

However, it almost didn't happen.

Teacher and Senior Prom Advisor Tony Napoli said, "We thought he has everything nailed down and we received an email yesterday they were pulling out."

"It was tough to know the prom we worked so hard at was kind of falling apart a little bit," Prom Chairperson McKenzie Mix said.

Around 10 o'clock on Friday, the school district sent us a message citing technology concerns from the Questlove team as the reason why.

Action News reached out to Questlove via twitter with this message "@questlove Heard you aren't going to be at Pennsbury High School Prom. What happened?"

Shortly after he sent out a series of tweets stating he had "some things" of a serious unavoidable matter but then re-committed to the prom.

He told Action News that it all came down to a scheduling conflict.

Questlove then reaffirmed his position writing, "I'm not even going to charge them. I'm doing prom, case closed."

Meanwhile, the school was scrambling to replace Questlove and there was a rumor they had booked DJ Pauly D, one of the cast members from the reality show the Jersey Shore.

School officials wouldn't confirm or deny that, but it's possible both DJs may end up playing side by side.

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