Oh, oh, say can you zing.
NYP: The disclosure that Beyoncé was faking it stunned Obama-administration insiders and inauguration planners — and set off a flurry of finger-pointing.
“This is a disaster,” said a source close to the organizers. “No one is sure if it was the call of the production people or here.
“In the history of inaugural events, this has never happened, so it’s not a small thing,” the source said. “I’m positive they thought she was going to sing live.”
The White House refused to comment and referred all questions to the Presidential Inauguration Committee. The committee, which handled many of Beyoncé’s logistics, refused to comment and referred questions to Beyoncé’s team.
Some disappointed fans invoked Milli Vanilli. But others shrugged it off as a common practice. “The only real surprise here is that anyone is surprised.” Wash Post Reliable Source gossipistas.
Update: the diva reveals why she faked it. UK Daily Mail.
To press seated just below the podium, in front of the “President’s Own” Marine Corps Band, it was evident that the band wasn’t actually playing during the song—even though band director Colonel Michael J. Colburn was conducting energetically and the band members mimicked blowing into their instruments. Washingtonian.
Jon Stewart: “It’s still better than what we would’ve had if Romney won.”
Kelly Clarkson and James Taylor were live, not Memorex. NYDN.
Lip reader Larry Wenig tells “Inside Edition” that Boehner asked President Obama — a longtime smoker who claims to have kicked the habit — if he’d had a chance to have a cigarette before the luncheon. The speaker, a chain smoker, then quipped, “Somebody [Michelle] won’t let you do it.” NYP.