In the wake of her ill-fated performance on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest,” Mariah Carey is opting to move forward without her creative director, Anthony Burrell.
A source confirmed the news with ET Online on Wednesday (Jan. 4). “He’s not being brought back [in 2017] for a number of reasons,” said the insider.
One of those reasons apparently stems from the botched New Year’s Eve performance. Burrell reportedly had Carey’s back-up singers moved off stage prior to the mishap-filled set, leaving her without their vocal support when her in-ears malfunctioned.
Burrell has not addressed the alleged firing on social media. But he said he was “heartbroken” following the New Year’s Eve incident.
“I haven’t been able to watch NYE performance. 30 sec from live TV, boss couldn’t hear her own vocal in her in-ears from Mic. #heartbroken,” he tweeted. “Sucks to see all of the hateful messages. Peep are so quick to judge, not knowing we were all in a state of panic.”
Following the New Year’s Eve performance, Mariah revealed that she felt “mortified” on stage. “It’s not going to stop me from doing a live event in the future,” she added. “But it will make me less trusting of using anyone outside of my own team.”