Mariah Carey ‘mortified’ after ‘horrible’ New Year’s Eve performance

By Chloe Melas

Mariah Carey is breaking her silence on her botched New Year’s Eve performance.

The Grammy-winner believes that had Dick Clark, the founder of Dick Clark Productions, been alive this audio mishap would not have happened.

“All I can say is Dick Clark was an incredible person and I was lucky enough to work with him when I first started in the music business,” Carey told Entertainment Weekly. “I’m of the opinion that Dick Clark would not have let an artist go through that and he would have been as mortified as I was in real time.”

Although Carey calls it a “horrible” New Year’s Eve, she is thankful to have fans that support her during tough times.

“My true fans have been so supportive and I am so appreciative of them and everybody in the media that came out to support me after the fact because it really was an incredible holiday season that turned into a horrible New Year’s Eve,” she said.

Carey, who is about to embark on her “All the Hits” tour, with Lionel Richie in March, said this won’t stop her from future live performances like the one on New Year’s Eve.

“It’s not going to stop me from doing a live event in the future. But it will make me less trusting of using anyone outside of my own team,” she said.

Dick Clark Productions responded to Carey’s team on Monday, after a report suggested they purposely “set [Carey] up to fail.”

“To suggest that DCP, as a 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,” Dick Clark Productions said in a statement.

Entertainment Tonight claims Carey fired her longtime Creative Director, Anthony Burrell, following the performance. The report claims he had moved her backup singers off stage and that caused even more confusion for Carey.

When Carey took the stage for her three-song set she announced she was unable to hear anything coming from her earpiece. A publicist for Carey told CNN at the time: “There was a production issue. Technical difficulties. Unfortunately there was nothing she could do to continue with the performance given the circumstances.”

A source close to Carey said that as for her singing along to a track: “It is not uncommon for artists to sing to track during certain live performances.”