So just who was to blame for Mariah Carey’s tragic New Year’s Eve performance? Fingers are beginning to point.
Carey’s camp believes Dick Clark Productions purposefully sabotaged her performance to boost ratings, according to TMZ.
The entire night, Carey was having trouble hearing in her “inner ears,” the earpieces used on live TV and stage performances for the performer to hear the music or interviewer in a reverberating, loud setting.
Carey did an interview with host Ryan Seacrest earlier that night where she said on air that she couldn’t hear him. “It’s hard for me to hear you,” she said. Her camp says after the interview, they went to the production room and told the Dick Clark execs her inner ears weren’t working. The execs allegedly told them that everything would be handled by the time it came for her to perform.
TMZ says:
Fast forward to 6 minutes before her performance. Mariah was in the holding tent for last minute makeup, and she was alarmed, telling the production team she could barely hear anything. Mariah sources say they were assured the tent muffled the sound, and it would be fine on stage.
At that point someone said her mic pack wasn’t working because the battery was dead, so they changed packs.
Mariah was suspicious and got on stage 4 minutes early to test things out, and she couldn’t hear anything in her inner ear. She and her team say they complained repeatedly, but nothing was done.
Carey and her team became even more suspicious when they say the prompter (which cues song lyrics and stage cues) wasn’t working. Mariah took her earpiece out to try and hear the music through the speakers, but the crowd was too loud, and she couldn’t hear anything.
However, Dick Clark Productions insiders say it was Mariah who chose not to do a soundcheck prior to the live performance and had a stand-in do it in her place. They say there were eight monitors on stage to amplify sound, so even without an inner ear, Mariah should have been able to hear.
Dick Clark Productions say Mariah’s team’s claims of sabotage is “silly,” and they may take her to court for defamation.
“In very rare instances there are of course technical errors that can occur with live television. However, our initial investigation has indicated that DCP had no involvement in the challenges associated with Ms. Carey’s New Year’s Eve performance,” Dick Clark Productions says in a statement.
“As the premier producer of live television events for nearly 50 years, we pride ourselves on our reputation and long-standing relationships with artists. To suggest that DCP, as producer of music shows including the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and Academy of Country Music Awards, would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd,” the statement also said.
