“We live in this viral world where anybody will do anything for a viral moment.”

Mariah Carey’s manager has given an interview shedding some light on the singer’s disastrous performance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, after TV footage of the show in New York’s Times Square went viral. Having reportedly accused the production company behind the TV performance of sabotage – claims dismissed as “silly” by Dick Clark Productions – Carey’s manager Stella Bulochnikov has now tried to clarify exactly what happened.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Bulochnikov – who says she was by Carey’s side throughout the performance – firstly addressed accusations that Carey had skipped the show’s rehearsal, explaining that a dance stand-in was used and that Carey watched from the side of the stage with her audio equipment on.

Bulochnikov goes on to claim that Carey complained at the time that “the sound was coming in choppy.” After this, Carey was allegedly given new in-ear monitors, which still didn’t work. The singer, Bulochnikov explains, was then assured it would be fine once the show went live, but apparently she ended up going on stage without being able to hear anything.

“There’s noise from Times Square and the music is reverberating from the buildings — all she hears is chaos,” recounts Bulochnikov. “She can’t hear her music. It’s a madhouse. At that point, there’s no way to recover.”

“On the third song when she could hear her track playing it was so bad she said: ‘Fuck it, I’ve had enough,’” she adds.

Bulochnikov continues: “When she pulled her ears out, they should have cut to commercial. That says to me they wanted a viral moment at any expense. And that’s not a company with integrity for 50-something years. That’s not who Dick Clark was. He loved artists.”

Bulochnikov labelled the production company “disgusting” for not having formally apologised to Carey. “We live in this viral world where anybody will do anything for a viral moment.” Dick Clark Productions have yet to respond.