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Marie Osmond Defends Mariah Carey After NYE Performance Drama

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Asked by hosts Natalie Morales and Kit Hoover why Carey would not sing because of a faulty earpiece, Osmond, 57, offered her own insights as a seasoned performer.

“I think people enjoy seeing people have problems, which is kind of sad, but it’s kind of where we are,” the “Paper Roses” songstress said. “First of all, high-five to her for not walking offstage.”

She continued: “When you can’t hear, you can’t hear. I don’t care what you think. People think you can hear. You don’t know what to sing to. You don’t know what pitch to sing in, and they go, ‘You know, it was lip-synched.’”

Marie Osmond
Marie Osmond

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The Donny & Marie alum then went on to say that the use of prerecorded vocals in large-scale performances like Carey’s latest gig in Manhattan are quite common.

“Just so you know, most of those big shows are [lip-synched] because they don’t want a mishap, and they want to make sure that everything is right,” she added. “Do you know what I’m saying? … And so she was in a really bad predicament. I think she gave it her best shot, and she’s gotten a lot of publicity from it, so, awesome.”

Mariah Carey performs during New Year's Eve 2017 in Times Square on Dec. 31, 2016, in New York City.
Mariah Carey performs during New Year’s Eve 2017 in Times Square on Dec. 31, 2016, in New York City.

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As previously reported, the Mariah’s World star gave up on trying to sing along with her singles “Emotions” and “We Belong Together” on Saturday’s broadcast of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve because, as she and her team claim, the chart-topper’s earpiece was not working.

Instead, Carey walked around the stage, only bringing the microphone to her mouth a few times during the awkward set. “This is the album version,” she admitted before exiting the stage. “It just don’t get any better.”

Carey’s team claimed the Grammy winner was sabotaged in an attempt for ABC to get higher ratings. “I will never know the truth, but I do know that we told them three times that her mic pack was not working and it was a disastrous production,” Carey’s manager, Stella Bulochnikov, told Us Weekly on Sunday, January 1. “I’m certainly not calling the FBI to investigate. It is what it is: New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Mariah did them a favor. She was the biggest star there, and they did not have their s‑‑t together.”

Carey responded to the drama via social media in the early hours of Sunday morning. “S–t happens,” she tweeted. “Have a happy and healthy new year everybody! Here’s to making more headlines in 2017.”

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