R&B songstress-turned sweet potato pie mogul Patti LaBelle will be co-starring with YouTube viral video star James Wright in a holiday TV special. The two will be seen cooking and baking various seasonal delectables together, including, of course, the sweet potato pies that initially brought them together.
Unless you've been hiding under a rock this past Thanksgiving season, you're aware of the huge Patti LaBelle sweet potato pie saga that swept the nation. Thousands were left clamoring for a taste of one of the sold-out Walmart pies after viewing James Wright's video, in which he tastes one of the desserts for the first time and "turns into" Patti LaBelle, singing with unrestricted glee about his favorite singer's culinary creation.
The story briefly took a dark turn when social media slammed LaBelle for seemingly refusing to credit Wright for the sudden upsurge in pie sales that followed his viral video. LaBelle quickly recognized the error of her ways and invited Wright to join her for a Thanksgiving dinner in which she heaped praise onto the newly crowned YouTube star, sang with him and presented him with a $7,000 Louis Vuitton bag as a birthday gift.
That first meeting also went viral on YouTube, but what viewers didn't know is that during the visit, Wright and LaBelle also filmed an entire cooking special co-starring the two, set to air for the holidays on the Cooking Channel. Yes, one of the items on the menu will be the now-famous "Patti Pie" that everyone has been talking about and that has been selling on eBay for upwards of $100.
LaBelle says the two will not only be co-starring in the cooking special, but that she and Wright plan to sing together onstage as well in the future.
"We're going to perform in more ways than one. He can be my lead singer and I'll be his background singer," she claimed with a newfound humility that implies the singer has been taking her public relations lessons seriously.
As for Wright, the former unknown is thrilled to suddenly be part of the whirlwind of media fame, but he's still most excited at the prospect of singing with his former idol and now BFF Patti.
"I've always tried to perform with [her]," he exclaimed. "When she does 'Lady Marmalade,' she calls people on stage to sing. At all of the concerts I've been to I never got a chance to make it on stage. And now I'm gonna be on stage with her."
While the details of their joint singing appearance haven't been decided yet, their pie-baking special will be airing next week. You can catch it on Wed. Dec. 16 at 8:30 p.m. EST on the Cooking Channel.
