Mariah Carey’s disastrous NYE performance was ‘sabotage’, management claims
Mariah Carey’s team have accused TV bosses of deliberately setting the singer up to fail after technical issues led to a spectacularly awkward performance on New Year’s Eve (31 December).
Footage of the iconic diva on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve with Ryan Seacrest saw the singer stumble through classic hits Emotions and We Belong Together, failing to sing and speaking to the crowd throughout.
According to reports, Carey was allegedly meant to lip-sync the songs, but was forced to sing live on the spot after her vocals failed to play. She also ran into technical issues with her earpiece, leaving her struggling to find the tune.
While Carey took the gaffe in her stride, writing “shit happens” on Twitter after the performance, her management seem to have taken the issue a little more seriously, and have even accused TV executives of purposefully sabotaging the singer to create a viral moment.
Shit happens 😩 Have a happy and healthy new year everybody!🎉 Here's to making more headlines in 2017 😂 pic.twitter.com/0Td8se57jr
— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) January 1, 2017
“Mariah was not ‘winging’ this moment and took it very seriously,” a representative said, adding: “a shame that production set her up to fail.”
Meanwhile, Mariah’s manager Stella Bulochnikov told Entertainment Weekly that the show’s actions suggested that they may have wanted her to fail.
Explaining that the show should have “cut to commercial” when the technical problems became apparent, she accused the show of trying to create a “viral moment at any expense.”
However, the show’s production team have hit back at the accusations, describing them as “ludicrous.”
“To suggest Dick Clark Productions would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory,” a spokesperson for the show said.
Watch a clip of the ill-fated performance below:
Mariah Carey's performance last night was a disaster! 😩 pic.twitter.com/V2tYXhYCRj
— Shady Music Facts (@ShadyMusicFeed) January 1, 2017
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