Sly Stone was a big popstar. He was lead singer of the Sly and the Family Stone; an avant-garde soul and rock band of the sixties and seventies. He went about with a big entourage; lots of hangers-on who hung on his every word. Sly was clearly fed up with these people licking his boots at every turn. So he cracked a deliberately lousy joke. Then he looked round to see their reaction.