Already rolling into 2017 with high expectations, Mariah Carey is fighting back after her trainwreck of a live New Year's Eve performance. 

The superstar and her team are pointing blame at the producers of ABC's Times Square NYE show for the lip-sync fiasco that had Mariah give up and walk off stage. 

According to a source from TMZ, Carey claims that Dick Clark and company of “set her up to fail." As the headliner for Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve, she was the last performance before the midnight countdown.

During an interview with host Ryan Seacrest, Carey apparently had issues hearing over the crowd noise, and her team claims they were promised Carey would be on "a different frequency” when she hit the stage and there would be no problem. 

Or so she thought. Dun dun dun.

But the source says the issues with the earpieces continued: To make matters worse and even more suspicious, Mariah's people say when she got on stage the prompter wasn't working. The prompter has the lyrics when they appear in the song as well as stage cues.

Mariah ripped the inner earpiece out -- out of frustration -- and thought she had a fighting chance just listening to the music, but the crowd was so loud in Times Square she could hear nothing.

John Pareles, chief pop music critic for The New York Times writes that performing on NYE in Times Square is a "thankless" gig: performers have to entertain on a stage outside in the middle of a city with a crowd too loud to hear and freezing temperatures.

[anad]

Dick Clark Productions isn’t taking the blame for the mic issue either. According to their statement on Variety, “To suggest that DCP...would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd.”

An initial investigation has indicated that DCP had no involvement in the challenges associated with Ms. Carey’s New Year’s Eve performance. “We want to be clear that we have the utmost respect for Ms. Carey as an artist," their statement claims.

image

via Elle

Carey’s awkward appearance on the telecast became a New Year’s Day viral video sensation overnight. The incident fueled speculation that Carey had intended to lip-synch the performance, pouring salt into the wound.

Dubious plot or not, we hope Carey can ‘Shake It Off’ as a another mishap in 2016 and look forward to the new year.

[via TMZ] [Feature Image Courtesy Elle] 

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