Teacher finds out Prince died – plays Purple Rain and weeps in front of his class
When my teacher found out Prince died
— ✨ diamond ✨ (@shvrdae)
When teacher Matthew Patterson heard the news legendary pop superstar Prince died yesterday, he wasn’t afraid to show his grief.
One of his students posted a video to Twitter showing the teacher, from Georgia, put his head in his hands and appear to break down while Purple Rain plays on a projector screen in the background.
Thousands of people shared the post, saying it summed up their own feelings to hearing the singer and composer had passed away.
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The New York Daily News Mr Patterson, who said he had heard the news while still in the classroom.
‘It hit me like a ton of bricks,’ he said, adding he told the students singers with equivalent star power for their generation might be Beyonce or Kanye West.
@ your teacher is all of us, we all need a hug today
— Mariel Molina (@marielinha)
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@ @ this legit made me cry.... man, I feel his pain.
— sai (@saibellanyc)
‘I talked about what Prince meant to me as an artist and a brave performer and a person unwilling to take stuff from record companies,’ he said.
‘I’ve been listening to Prince since I was 7. … I must’ve spent thousands and thousands of hours listening to Prince. I was just a huge fan.’
Describing the last Prince concert he saw, he said: ‘The last time he was in Atlanta, he was at Philips Arena playing an acoustic guitar. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Who can captivate 20,000 people with one acoustic guitar?’