Mariah Carey performs onstage during New Year's Eve 2017 in Times Square at Times Square on December 31, 2016 in New York City. (Photo : Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Reacting to Mariah Carey's claim that her performance at Times Square for "New Year's Rocking Eve With Ryan Seacrest" was intentionally sabotaged by TV producers for bigger ratings, a source from production staff has refuted the accusation. Audio producer Robert Goldstein of Maryland Sound International, which worked on the event, has come forward to state that there had been no malfunctions with the sound equipment he oversaw.
"Every monitor and in-ear device worked perfectly," Goldstein told New York Times. "I can't comment beyond that and don't know what her nontechnical issue may have been."
Carey suffered a major setback on New Year's Eve in Times Square when some apparent malfunction left her at a loss vocally during the performance her hit number "Emotions." The singer was seen struggling to reach notes and to sync the lyrics and music.
The trouble continued further in her performance and she gave up on another of her best-known numbers, "We Belong Together." The recording of the song continued to play, seems to be confirming that she had been lip-syncing in front of 1 million revelers and a worldwide television audience on ABC.
The cause of the problem was not immediately clear. Later, the singer claimed that she was not able to hear a thing through her earpieces. Her rep told TMZ that the singer's team had repeatedly complained to execs at Dick Clark Productions that her earpieces were not working. She was reportedly told things would be fine once she was on stage.
It is also being claimed by Carey's team that when she got on stage, even her prompter was not working. The 47-year-old singer then ripped the earpiece out, but still could not hear the music since the crowd was very loud in Times Square at the time.
It was undoubtedly a rare meltdown by one of the top-selling recording artists of all times in front of national TV. The singer, who has five Grammys in her kitty, was the final pre-midnight act on the much-awaited ABC show. Watch Carey's train wrecked performance in the video below:
