Ryan Seacrest slams Mariah Carey for ‘Rockin’ Eve’ debacle

Ryan Seacrest is still sore over Mariah Carey’s claims his production team sabotaged her ill-fated “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” performance.

During her performance, Carey lip-synced and stumbled her way through her segment, saying that her inner ear monitors weren’t working properly. Her manager, Stella Bulochnikov, claimed later that Dick Clark Productions was aware of the issue before the performance began and did nothing to address it.

“Once things went wrong, they took the decision to keep rolling and make her look like a train wreck for the ratings,” Bulochnikov told Page Six.

Dick Clark Productions called the allegations “defamatory,” and Seacrest, 42, vehemently denied that the production team was behind the disaster.

“What was going through my head [in that moment] was and is: That crew, that team, that staff is the best in the business,” Seacrest said firmly on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” on Thursday.

“They put on the biggest live music events and they know what they’re doing, and I know how good they are at their jobs,” he continued. “So my reaction was, she was working with the best — I find it hard to believe they made big mistakes that night.”

Still, Seacrest admitted that, like Carey, 47, it was hard for him to hear what was going on because of all the noise surrounding him.

“When it was happening, it was hard for me to see and hear because we’re in Times Square and there’s a lot going on,” he conceded. “I had to be told that something was going on and then try and find a monitor to react to, so I wasn’t quite sure what was happening, actually.”

“Dick Clark would not have let an artist go through that and he would have been as mortified as I was in real time,” he said.
Mariah Carey and Ryan Seacrest at “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”Getty Images for dcp
Seacrest’s comments echoed the opinion he shared in January about the incident.

“I know this team of producers — I’ve known these guys for years. I knew Dick Clark very, very well,” he said. “This is a team that wants to do everything they can to accommodate any artist. We are in the business of wanting people to look good and, believe me, tricky things, tough things can happen. It happens on live television. You’ve seen artists before in a concert pull out their earpiece because something happens. Something could have happened in the ears. I wasn’t in those ears. It’s just unfortunate that it comes to all of this.”