Tommy Mottola Defends Mariah Carey, Says She Has ‘The Greatest Pop Voice’
Tommy Mottola has defended Mariah Carey after her performance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest and has called her a “global icon and a treasure with incredible talent.”
Mariah Carey’s ex-husband, the 67-year-old music executive Tommy Mottola, became involved with Mariah while she was working on her third album, Music Box. The couple were wed on June 5, 1993, and announced their separation on May 30, 1997.
Tommy Mottola believes that while Carey should take some of the blame for the issue surrounding her performance, the issue really revolves around her having the wrong support team and that she should fire the advisors that work for her and “hire more seasoned and respected professionals” instead, as Global News reported.
Tommy Mottola went on to note that Mariah Carey has “arguably the greatest pop voice to come along in the last three decades.” But he believes that her advisors and technical team were at fault for her performance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest and that Carey wouldn’t have faced the embarrassment and media coverage that she did if the technical people working for her had paid “more attention to all of it so that there was no chance of that happening.”
Mariah Carey made worldwide news as the clock approached midnight on New Year’s Eve. She sang songs like “We Belong Together” and “Emotions,” but everything suddenly went wrong. Mariah had difficulty singing her set of songs even though there was a pre-recorded track playing in the background for her.
The technical problems that Mariah Carey was experiencing came from not being able to properly hear through her in-ear monitor, which she abandoned completely and got rid of. Carey eventually stopped the music, but told her fans, “I’m trying to be a good sport here.”
Tommy Mottola says that the situation his ex-wife found herself in “could have happened to anyone.”
Nicole Perna, Mariah Carey’s representative, placed the blame for the singer’s technical difficulties on Dick Clark Productions.
“She was not winging this moment and took it very seriously. A shame that production set her up to fail.”
Shit happens???? Have a happy and healthy new year everybody!???? Here’s to making more headlines in 2017???? pic.twitter.com/0Td8se57jr
— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) January 1, 2017
Perna also said that since Mariah Carey’s earpiece wasn’t working, she made the production team aware of the issue, but was told that it would be working fine once she got on the stage. This did not happen, as Mariah Carey’s New Year’s Eve performance showed.
“However, that was not the case, and they were again told that her earpiece was not working. Instead of endeavoring to fix the issue so that Mariah could perform, they went live.”
Dick Clark Productions have issued their own statement, and denied that they purposely compromised Mariah Carey’s performance on New Year’s Eve.
“To suggest that Dick Clark Productions, as producer of music shows including the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and Academy of Country Music Awards, would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd.”
Tommy Mottola believes that Mariah Carey should “take a step back, think carefully and figure out what to do next” when it comes to her career and those that work for her. He also stated that “most certainly none of these issues or problems ever existed with her in her early days at Sony for the first 10 years when she skyrocketed to global superstardom!”
Billboard reports that Mariah Carey’s manager, Stella Bulochnikov, has taken issue with Tommy Mottola’s claims that Mariah needs to get new people working for her and replied, “Really? Tommy is a relic. Did he give you that statement from a rotary phone?”
What do you think about Mariah Carey’s performance? Do you think Tommy Mottola is correct and she should hire a new team around her?
[Featured Image by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images]
