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- One "Fruity Pebbles" commercial from the 1980s has Barney dressing up as Prince to fool Fred (complete with a purple motorcycle).
- Hirohiko Araki is a big fan of Prince's music, and his influence can be seen multiple times in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
- Alongside Michael and Lionel, the name of one of Muhammad Avdol's three pet chickens in Stardust Crusaders is Prince.
- Josuke Higashikata, the main protagonist of Diamond is Unbreakable, is designed after Prince in both his outfit and pompadour, as well as having his favorite artist be listed as Prince. On top of this, the part specifically takes place in 1999.
- Giorno Giovanna's Stand in Golden Wind is named Gold Experience, after the album The Gold Experience.
- In the anime adaptation, "Canzoni Preferite", the song used in the infamous Torture Dance sequence, is based on "P. Control", a song from The Gold Experience. Also, "P. Control" is implied to have been the song meant to be used in the original manga version.
- The Stand of Josuke Higashikatanote in JoJolion is named Soft & Wet, after the song on For You.
- Also from JoJolion, the Stand of Yasuho Hirose is named Paisley Park, after both the song on Around The World In A Day and the museum/recording studio inspired by it.
- Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughainote , the world's first Tuareg-language fiction film, is an homage to Purple Rain, being a semi-autobiographical narrative based on the experiences of Nigeran singer-songwriter Mdou Moctar.
- In Shaun of the Dead, Shaun goes through his music collection, trying to decide which records are unimportant enough to use as weapons against the zombies. He keeps Purple Rain and Sign o' the Times, but throws the Batman soundtrack.
- In Showgirls, "Ripopgodazippa" is featured in a few scenes.
- Beautiful Music for Ugly Children:
- Gabe plays an hour of Prince songs on his radio show.
- At the contest for a five-hour weekly guest spot on a major radio station, one of Gabe's competitors knows Prince personally. He wins the contest. John thinks Prince pulled some strings.
- On The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Where There's a Will, There's a Way", Ashley brings home an obnoxious suitor who introduces himself as a symbol of a stick with a snake around it, comparing it to Prince's own androgynous symbol at the time. After Uncle Phil asks "Prince who?" and the boy insults him, he promptly kicks him out.
- In Living Color!:
- The Lil' Richard's Playhouse sketch had Little Richard (Keenen Ivory Wayans) mocking him, James Brown, Paul McCartney, and Elvis.
- One Men on... sketch reviewing television had Blaine and Antoine dismissing The Fresh Prince, citing how they preferred the artist to the show.
- Jamie Foxx portrays Prince in a commercial for Butt Out Jeans.
- He also portrayed him in a music video parody of "My Name Is Prince" titled "Prince of Munchkinland".
- An episode of The Jerry Springer Show has an infamous subject, Rufus,note claim in one of his appearances that he looks just like Prince, even attempting to dance like him.
- A Mad TV sketch mocking the first dinner scene from The Nutty Professor (1996) had him as a guest and after being disgusted by their farting, he gets up and leaves...only for him to be wearing assless pants.
- He makes an appearance As Himself on New Girl.
- An episode of Pop Up Video featured several of his videos, including "Little Red Corvette", "1999", and "Kiss".
Music
- R.E.M.: According to Marcus Gray's 1996 band biography It Crawled from the South, the line "it's a sign of the times" in "Exhuming McCarthy" is a deliberate nod to the Prince album of the same name, playing off of how Prince and R.E.M. were both viewed as some of the 1980s' most prominent leftfield acts.
- Todd Rundgren, whom Prince was reportedly a very big fan of, took a shot at his changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol in his 1995 song "The Individualist" from the album of the same name:"Change my name to some funky fresh dingbatLike 'The Artist Formerly Known as TR-inote '"
- "Weird Al" Yankovic: In "Word Crimes", Al discourages using Letters 2 Numbers "unless you're seven, or your name is Prince," lightly ribbing at the musician's lifelong refusal to let Al parody his work.
- Canadian figure skater Corey Circelli performed to "Purple Rain" and "The Question of U" for his short program
during the second half of the 2021-2022 competitive season.
- Fanboy and Chum Chum: In "Risky Brizness", Oz gives Fanboy the codename "Purple Rain", which is a reference to the Prince song of the same name. The same codename is used by Fanboy in "Buddy Up" as he and Chum Chum are talking on the bus.
- House of Mouse: In "The Three Caballeros", Donald reinvents his image and presents himself as "The Duck Formerly Known as Donald". At the end, Mickey refers to himself as "The Mouse Currently Known as Mickey".
- The Simpsons:
- In "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds", one of Santa's Little Helper's puppies is named "The Puppy Formerly Known as Prince".
- In "Lemon of Troy", when Milhouse bonds with a Shelbyville kid named Milhouse, he exclaims, "So this is what it sounds like when doves cry!" before they embrace.
- In the "Radioactive Man" episode, one of the Internet geeks who tries to get inside information on who will be cast as Radioactive Man strongly resembles Prince.
- In "Lisa the Simpson", when trying to decipher a puzzle on the back of a frozen kids meal container, Lisa concludes that it's not Prince's then-ambiguous symbol.
- In "Treehouse of Horror XIX", the segment How to Get Ahead in Dead-vertisting has Homer bring hired to kill various celebrities, including Prince.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: The episode "Krabby Road" samples a background guitar riff from the Prince song "Endorphinmachine" when SpongeBob is suggesting what the band's first song should sound like.
