Mariah Carey‘s claim that her disastrous New Year’s Eve performance was sabotaged for ratings is “frankly absurd,” the TV show’s producer said in a statement.
“We pride ourselves on our reputation and long-standing relationships with artists,” a Dick Clark Productions spokesperson told The Post in a statement. “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.”
On Sunday, the pop diva’s team accused the production company of purposely making a fool of Carey as she struggled with an allegedly malfunctioning inner earpiece that wasn’t playing the backtrack to the two songs she struggled mightily to perform.
Her manager, Stella Bulochnikov, sent a scathing letter to DCP demanding a “formal apology.”
“Once things went wrong, they took the decision to keep rolling and make her look like a train wreck for the ratings,” she told The Post on Sunday.
But the production company insisted there was no cabal to intentionally botch her performance, which included out-of-sync singing to both songs.
“In very rare instances there are of course technical errors that can occur with live television, however, an initial investigation has indicated that DCP had no involvement in the challenges associated with Ms. Carey’s New Year’s Eve performance,” the statement said.
“We want to be clear that we have the utmost respect for Ms. Carey as an artist and acknowledge her tremendous accomplishments in the industry.”
This is not the first time drama has surrounded one of Carey’s live performances.
Back in 2014, she bailed on singing a live rendition of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” during the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting, instead pre-recording the song due to freezing rain.
A producer later leaked the audio from the recording, showing that the soprano wasn’t really hitting the high notes of the song.