Nicolas Cage quit karaoke after someone leaked his performance of 'Purple Rain'

Nicolas Cage
(Image credit: Sascha Steinbach/Getty Images)

Nicolas Cage probably won't be seen on Carpool Karaoke anytime soon.

The National Treasure star in a Hollywood Reporter actor's roundtable interview revealed he used to love karaoke, but he gave it up after a video of him singing "Purple Rain" went viral a few years ago.

"For me, karaoke was like therapy until someone videotaped my punk-rock version of Prince's 'Purple Rain' and it went everywhere and I said, 'I'm not going to karaoke anymore,'" Cage said.

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The video in question can be seen on YouTube under the brutal title of "Nicolas Cage Ruins Prince's 'Purple Rain' During Bizarre Karaoke Session." When it went viral in 2019, TMZ wrote up Cage's "emotional" rendition of the song and speculated "the performance was fueled by his desire to annul his recent marriage of four days."

In the Hollywood Reporter discussion, Cage opined that "singing is therapy," adding, "Karaoke's supposed to be private. It's like a prayer."

But Andrew Garfield, who also took part in the roundtable discussion, did his best to convince Cage to come out of karaoke retirement for the good of the planet, telling him, "Don't steal the gift from the world. You need to keep giving."

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.