Beyonce’s Super Bowl press conference: What REALLY happened, media got it wrong

Contrary to what many news outlets like NewsTalk, RushLimbaugh.com, The Voice Online, and Capital FM, are reporting today, Feb 1, Beyonce DID NOT admit to lip-syncing the national anthem at her Super Bowl press conference yesterday.

View slideshow: Beyonce silences her critics with class

That’s not what happened at all, even though on Jan 31, countless other major media outlets including The Washington Post Fox News, and CBS News reported the same thing.

Having personally listened to Beyonce’s Super Bowl press conference as it was being live-streamed by TMZ.com, then reading the news reports, it was obvious that scores of media outlets reporting the news got it wrong.

In fact, only a few news outlets like CNN, MTV.com, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, ABC News, and Yahoo News gave an accurate account of what actually occurred. See Beyonce Using Super Bowl Rehearsal Photos to Remove Focus from Lip-Sync Scandal

PHOTOS: Beyonce Silences Her Critics with Class

PHOTOS: Beyonce Performing Live

What REALLY Happened at Beyonce’s Super Bowl Press Conference

After opening her Super Bowl press conference by belting out a flawlessly rendered a cappella rendition of the national anthem, Beyonce entertained questions from the hundreds of journalists present. See Beyonce Using Super Bowl Rehearsal Photos to Remove Focus from Lip-Sync Scandal.

At no time during the press conference did Beyonce “admit that she lip-synced the national anthem” as has been falsely reported. In fact, Beyonce never even used the word “lip-sync” at all.

What Beyonce did admit to was singing along to her own pre-recorded track.

When asked to explain what happened, this is what Beyonce had to say:

"It was a live television show and a very, very important emotional show for me and one of my proudest moments. Due to the weather, due to the delay, due to no proper sound check, I did not feel comfortable taking the risk.

"It was about the president and the inauguration, and I wanted to make him and my country proud, so I decided to sing along with my pre-recorded track, which is very common in the music industry. And I’m very proud of my performance."

Several questions later, when another reporter asked Beyonce if there was actually any sound coming from her vocal chords as she performed the national anthem, Beyonce reiterated that she SANG along with her pre-recording, saying

I did sing along with the pre-recorded track ... I always sing live.

Clearly, what Beyonce did was to use her pre-recording to augment her own voice while singing the national anthem in the less than ideal cold temperature on Inauguration Day. See Beyonce Lip-Sync or Live Controversy Resolved: Audio Expert Says She Did Both

PHOTOS: Lip-Sync or Live? Experts Say Beyonce Did Both

It’s interesting to note, how after hearing the same thing every other reporter at the press conference heard, so many media outlets still got it wrong. Beyonce even assured those present that her Super Bowl Halftime Show would indeed be sung live.

PHOTOS: Beyonce Performing Live

What Exactly Does “Lip-Sync” Mean?

Part of the problem may stem from not having a clear understanding of what the word “lip sync” really means.

Lip- sync (or lip synch) is short for lip synchronization. Dictionaries offer the following definitions of the term:

to move the lips in synchronization with recorded speech or song
to pretend to sing or say in synchronization with recorded sound
to articulate silently or form words with the lips only

In describing what she did regarding the national anthem on Inauguration Day, at no time did Beyonce state that she did anything which fits descriptions above.

Beyonce sang along with a pre-recorded track.

What part of that was difficult for some journalists to understand? See Beyonce Super Bowl News: No Pay, Diva Demands, Destiny’s Child Reunion Rumors

That Beyonce sang in conjunction with her pre-recording is confirmed by audio engineers and sound technicians who analyzed various videos of Beyonce singing the “Star-Spangled Banner” at the Presidential inauguration. See Beyonce Lip-Sync or Live Controversy Resolved: Audio Expert Says She Did Both

At certain points in some of the videos, most noticeably the Wall Street Journal’s version, two distinct voices singing together can clearly be heard.

PHOTOS: Lip-Sync or Live? Experts Say Beyonce Did Both

How unfortunate that in their eagerness to report how Beyonce put an end to the lip-sync controversy and silenced her critics with dignity and class, so many media outlets got it wrong.

PHOTOS: Beyonce Silences Her Critics with Class

More Articles and Slideshows about Beyonce

For more slideshows and articles about Beyonce, see the list below or visit www.CelebrityInfidelity.com

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Ruth Houston is a New York-based infidelity expert who is frequently called on by the media to comment on high profile infidelity and popular infidelity issues in the news. She is the founder of www.InfidelityAdvice.com, the author of Is He Cheating on You? - 829 Telltale Signs, and publishes the Infidelity News and Views blog. Ruth also writes the Celebrity Infidelity column (www.CelebrityInfidelity.com) and the National Infidelity column (www.NationalInfidelity.com) for Examiner.com. To interview infidelity expert Ruth Houston, or have Ruth speak at your next event, call 718 592-6029 or e-mail InfidelityExpert@gmail.com