Earlier this week we learned that Clive Davis made the decision to carry on with his annual Pre-Grammy party at the Beverly Hills Hilton hotel last Saturday night mere hours after the body of Whitney Houston was found in a room in that very same hotel. Despite the fact not only that Whitney‘s dead body was still in the hotel but also that she was getting ready to attend said party, Davis — a longtime friend and mentor to Whitney — decided that “the show must go on” and the party took place as usual. Whitney‘s friend Chaka Khan was interviewed on Piers Morgan Tonight this week and she openly voiced her disapproval of Davis‘s decision to hold his party in spite of Houston‘s death … and I have to say, I agree with her completely.
On Saturday, legendary singer Whitney Houston suffered a tragic death, and … Piers Morgan is joined by a panel of music insiders that knew her best. Singer-songwriter Chaka Khan first recorded the single “I’m Every Woman,” a song Houston took to new heights 15 years later. Calling the late star her “little sister,” Chaka Khan questions the decision to proceed with Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy party just hours after Houston’s passing: “I thought that was complete insanity,” Chaka Khan tells Morgan. “I don’t know what could motivate a person, to have a party, in a building, where the person, whose life he had influenced so enormously, and whose life had been affected by her…I don’t understand how that party went on.”
If you watch the clip above, you’ll learn that Chaka was supposed to attend Clive Davis‘s party but as soon as she heard of Whitney‘s death, she decided that she simply could not attend the party. As I blogged before, I personally felt it was really weird for the celebrities in attendance to be smiling for the cameras just hours after Whitney‘s death — IN THE HOTEL WHERE HER DEAD BODY WAS BEING HOUSED. Despite the lip service, the party wasn’t really turned into a memorial for Whitney … it eventually turned into a regular celebratory party. Now, far be it for me to blame anyone for partying whenever they feel the need … but for Clive Davis — of all people — to carry on with his party as if nothing happened after Whitney‘s death … man, that just feels so wrong to me … and, clearly, to Chaka Khan as well.
Later in the interview, Chaka also discussed Whitney’s final days in LA … in her opinion, Whitney — a recovering addict — should not have been allowed to party in the days leading up to the Clive Davis pre-Grammy party:
Again, I agree with Chaka Khan here. Chaka was not only a close personal friend to Whitney but she is also a recovering addict herself. Who better than she has an opinion worth listening to and taking to heart. I’m really glad Chaka Khan is speaking out … she is really saying the things that a great many of us (me, included) are thinking.
[Source, Source]
I am so glad that someone in the industry FINALLY said this! I know Clive Davis is a powerful man, but his judgement call on this was waaaaay off. I can’t believe anyone attended, especially because it was in the hotel where she died. Their insensitivity is breathtaking.
i agree, they just don’t want to call an expensive party off. money and publicity mattered so much to them than the life lost, and body that was still there in that hotel.
That’s because clive davis was the one that had whitney murdered…She was no good to him anymore and her being at the hotel was simply planned..It should not be of a surprise that others showed up to celebrate as there were probably a lot of so called people who pretended to like and be whitney’s friend but yet did not give a damn about her and this includes Clive Davis…He met Whitney,saw money,screwed her and made her into a huge success and once she got on drugs,lost her voice and made a decision to go into acting and to basically do things her way, Clive Davis killed her..And this i know.
@horez white — You should go to the police, immediately!!!!!!!
I really hope the decision wasn’t made because of money (lost deposits to rent space, etc.)
See also: Sharon O going off on The Talk today about how disgraceful it was to still hold the party.
I was all over TMZ’s coverage on Saturday, and if you look back at their video they posted, you can HEAR the bass from the party thumping in the background (dance mix, natch) when they are interviewing the coroner. The flipping coroner! You can hear the party! Her body was STILL THERE! Ugh, ugh, ugh, so tacky and tasteless, and really shows what the industry really thinks of its own.
Woah, that is awful that you could hear the dance music! So insensitive!
Here’s the link, for anyone who wants to hear it for themselves. The coroner gives no information, but the volume of the dance music at the party is just shocking.
http://www.tmz.com/2012/02/11/.....zyaCI76jS8
I wonder if Clive was just in a complete state of shock and denial about her having died. I could definitely imagine that.
My picture of it goes like this — he is immersed in the preparation for the imminent party, then receives this terrible news that he is unable to process (given the suddenness of it and his deep feelings for her), he flips into shock and denial, the people around him — who are more invested in the party than anyone’s feelings — tell him she’d want the show to go on… so, still in shock and denial, he goes along with that.
I completely agree that the party was totally absurd and inappropriate at best.
But I also have a really hard time believing that he was actually being genuinely callous. I believe his feelings for her and his reaction to her death are more profound than that.
Everyone responds to grief differently. Some people do go into denial. Another common response is needing to “do” something, take some sort of action. Maybe holding the party was part of that impulse… I don’t know.
But I tend to try to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to grief responses. There isn’t a “right” way to handle the news that someone you’ve loved for decades is suddenly dead, when you expected to see her in a few hours.
Agreed.
Agree agree!
I agree Karen. While I do think it was WEIRD that the party went on, none of us really have the right to judge…
Word.
I don’t know. I think he felt that the show must go on and I think that’s a testament to his lack of regard and respect for the loss of life of someone close to him. I’m really glad she spoke out about this too. I can’t fathom why he felt that “the show must go on” and then to add insult to injury by saying that it is what Whitney would have wanted…yikes. It’s so sad, Whitney deserved much more from a man that was such a huge part of her life.
Right? Wrong? Not paying respect to life and death in our society seems wrong. Using drugs when you have kids seems wrong. One day we will all face our actions of judgement-wrong-and-right no matter what.
# When you see a fault in someone else, realize that it is your own fault you are seeing.
Reflect on that peeps.
I disagree. Everyone’s lives in that room (the artists who had worked so hard the entire year and prepared for this show and all the staff who prepared it) should not have to be punished for that because of one woman’s reckless choices in her life.
She was a great artist but no more, no less. She was no saint or truly special person who deserved to have everyone else suffer on her account. They paid their respects in the time they could to do it and will continue to after the show.
Carol, I think you might be misreading this article. This isn’t about the Grammy Awards, rather Clive Davis’ party the night before, on the ground floor of the hotel while Whitney Houston’s body was still on the 4th floor of the same hotel. Whitney Houston was discovered by Clive Davis, and was in every way his protégé.
I don’t know how I feel about that, maybe he just couldn’t handle the grief and repressed it for a fee hours but at the same time it was in the same fucking hotel! So creep idk.. btw Chaka Khan also said that Whitney took drugs before Bobby so people can stop blaming him for everything that she did wrong. It’s a personal choice and nobody holds you down and forces drugs down you.
NOT that I agree with the party going on as scheduled (especially when it was in the same hotel and her body was still there), but I did have a thought on one other POSSIBLE reason he went ahead with his party. Maybe it had something to do with having already invited everyone, already having things in order to be set up, already having paid for everything, etc. It would be kind of hard to uninvite everyone (not impossible, though), and discard all the food and other things that had already been prepared and set up? Again, I’m totally NOT agreeing with it, but after watching what all goes into planning a large event (just think about what all the “Real Housewives” go through for a “little” party), it just makes me wonder if that was a factor in his decision. Also, maybe he did really feel that Whitney would want the party to go on. But damn… it’s really weird to continue with it in the same hotel that her body is still inside of. Switching locations would’ve been a good idea.
Sharon O thought they should have had dinner and reflected on what Whitney meant to them, and then all went home. Instead, they cranked up the dance mixes and apparently partied well into the night, although the party had ended by the time Whitney’s body left the hotel around 3:30 a.m., according to TMZ. That’s right, her body was there the entire time. I just cannot get over that!
Yes exactly THEY partied, if people are blaming someone for the party it shouldn’t be C.Davis but everyone who decided to hit that dance floor! no one forced people to come and as we saw from the pic from his party red carpet a lot of people including Britney Spears attended the party so stop judging the poor guy and start talking about everyone who was in attendance!
@gayana — There would’ve been no party for people to go to if Clive had canceled it.
..Clive Davis was obviously very close to and affected by Whitney Houston’s death ..turning the party into a tribute was one way to honor her memory without disrupting a lot of plans …but it would have been a more touching and believable tribute to her to have cancelled …..sometimes personal before professional is required just to remind ourselves of our frail humanity ..