Dick Clark Productions is hitting back against Mariah Carey's claim it sabotaged her live performance on its "New Year's Rockin' Eve" special.
Carey's disaster during the annual New Year's Eve special in Times Square made international headlines: The superstar vocally stumbled through her short set, failing to sing for most of it despite a pre-recorded track of her songs playing in the background.
Carey was visibly upset during the performance and afterward tweeted "(expletive) happens." Her representative Nicole Perna blamed technical difficulties, and in an interview with Billboard she said Dick Clark Productions hampered Carey's performance.
"She was not winging this moment and took it very seriously," Perna told Billboard. "A shame that production set her up to fail."
Perna said Carey's earpiece wasn't working and she flagged the issue to the production team but was told it would be OK when she got on stage.
"However, that was not the case, and they were again told that her earpiece was not working," Perna said. "Instead of endeavoring to fix the issue so that Mariah could perform, they went live."