There was an immediate uproar when Base Hologram and Whitney Houston's estate announced the first official dates of a hologram tour that starts in January.
Whitney Houston's estate, ran by her sister-in-law Pat Houston, triumphantly announced the tour on Instagram and Twitter on Tuesday.
We are pleased to announce An Evening With Whitney: The #WhitneyHouston Hologram Tour! Whitney's UK fans will be the first to experience this iconic and awe-inspiring mixed media performance. ✨????✨
Tickets go on sale this Friday 9/20 at 9 AM BST https://t.co/yUD4QCIykm
pic.twitter.com/uapZKxIbth— BASE Hologram (@BASEHologram) September 17, 2019
“A hologram show is all about the imagination and creating a 'wow factor' that extends to an incredible experience to enjoy for years to come, Whitney is not with us but her music will live with us forever. We know we made the right decision partnering with BASE because they understand how important it is to produce a phenomenal hologram," Pat said in a statement.
Folks on Twitter were quick to lash out at the announcement.
I hope no one attends this. The same industry that sent Whitney Houston spiraling and profited is now trying to profit from her still in death.
Let her rest, you can’t control her anymore. https://t.co/1QTk3Eqppn
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) September 18, 2019
okay i'ma say one last thing about whitney houston's hologram: if the good sis was here and she found out that patricia was organizing it, she'd lose her shit because it's weird. thank you for coming to my ted talk.
— donnie. ✨ (@veIvetsecrets) September 18, 2019
Pat Houston needs to stop exploiting the Houston brand, a name and brand made famous by #WhitneyHouston
She has been whoring the Houston name out ever since Whitney passed. Like when she signed for a reality show in the middle of Bobbi Kristina grieving her mother. #TRASH
https://t.co/R2RIMNzUXt
pic.twitter.com/is8LiU8iSK— ERIC (@EricUnedited) September 18, 2019
capitalism will recreate your likeness and project it in front of millions, so it may posthumously profit off you for eternity. there are truly no limits to its ethical depravity. nothing is sacred.
rest in peace to whitney houston. https://t.co/a4i2MFLwqE
— 1,000 Bandz Fanon (@birth_marxist) September 17, 2019
Arrest anyone who attends this https://t.co/tjBv6hVzrK
— Ira thee Third (@ira) September 18, 2019
The "An Evening With Whitney" tour will start in Mexico and travel through England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia and Ukraine before it ends in April at an arena in Minsk, Belarus.
Tickets will go on sale on Friday, but Base said there weren't any plans yet for a North American leg of the tour. The show will feature backup dancers and singers led by famed choreographer Fatima Robinson.
“Whitney was a musical trail-blazer and I’m extremely honored to have this opportunity to help craft this show in her honor,” Robinson said in a statement.
Whitney's brother, who is also Pat's husband, will lead her old band in performing the hits behind a holographic version of the music icon.
The world was shocked and saddened when the singer was found dead at the age of 48 in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2012.
In May, Pat sat down with The New York Times and announced the hologram tour, implying that it was needed in order to rehabilitate the legendary singer's image.
“Before she passed, there was so much negativity around the name; it wasn’t about the music anymore,” Pat told the New York Times.
“People had forgotten how great she was. They let all the personal things about her life outweigh why they fell in love with her in the first place,” Pat added.
Pat recently secured a deal with Primary Wave Music Publishing, a New York music company that has taken on a number of legendary artists' catalogs and tried to market them after their passing. They have already organized hologram shows for singers like Maria Callas, Roy Orbison and Frank Zappa.
To secure the deal, Pat said she gave Primary Wave 50 percent of the estate's assets, which were valued around $14 million. This included the rights to use Whitney's image and name as well as her music, film and merchandising royalties.
Pat said she and Primary Wave were already planning other ventures on top of the hologram show, including a Broadway musical, advertising deals and a new album of previously unreleased music.