Did the White House — or the FBI — have something to do with it? Nick Cannon joked that he believes ex-wife Mariah Carey’s disastrous New Year’s Eve performance was a setup by the government during a Monday, January 16, appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. See what he had to say in the video above!
Asked about Carey’s controversial set during the Saturday, December 31, telecast of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, Cannon, 36, told Ellen DeGeneres why he isn’t placing blame on the pop superstar.
“You know me, I’m a conspiracy theorist. I think the government did that. They set her up,” he quipped. “That was a distraction. They just put her out there.”
As previously reported, Carey and her team claimed that Dick Clark Productions sabotaged the Mariah’s World star during her performance due to a faulty earpiece. Because of the technical error, the Grammy winner did not sing — and mostly didn’t even pretend to sing — as prerecorded vocals for her hits “Emotions” and “We Belong Together” played.
Dick Clark Productions denied Carey’s allegations that its staff undermined Carey for ratings in a statement to Us Weekly. “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 company told Us on January 1. “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.”
Kidding aside, Cannon went on to defend the Elusive Chanteuse during his chat with DeGeneres. “But I mean, anyone who knows about performing and having inner ears and stuff like that, things like that can go wrong on live television,” the America’s Got Talent host explained. “I do live television. I screw up on America’s Got Talent all the time. So when there’s people in your ear saying things and stuff, I think she kinda got a little flustered.”
The All That alum continued: “But being the diva that she is, she said, ‘I’m just going to walk around and pose for seven minutes.’ And like Ryan Seacrest said, she can do no wrong. She worked through it. [The crowd was] like, ‘She’s amazing and her lips aren’t even moving!’”
