Mariah Carey rep claims she was 'set up to fail' at New Year's Eve performance

"Shit happens," Mariah Carey said in a tweet after her disastrous New Year's Eve performance, but her team had more to say on the matter. A representative for Carey told Billboard that Dick Clark Productions "set her up to fail," but the production company denies any such actions.

BWR-PR's Nicole Perna told Billboard that Carey noticed her earpiece was malfunctioning and was told it would be fixed on stage.

“They told her it would be fine once she was on stage,” Perna said. “However, that was not the case...Instead of endeavoring to fix the issue so that Mariah could perform, they went live.”

In an official statement, Dick Clark Productions refuted the claims of Carey's team:

To suggest that dcp...would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd. In very rare instances there are of course technical errors that can occur with live television, however, an initial investigation has indicated that dcp had no involvement in the challenges associated with Ms. Carey’s New Year’s Eve performance.  We want to be clear that we have the utmost respect for Ms. Carey as an artist and acknowledge her tremendous accomplishments in the industry.

Carey's team continues to defend her performance and the artist's efforts for DCP.

“She was not ‘winging’ this moment and took it very seriously,” Perna added.

UPDATE 4:15 pm ET Monday: "There was a production issue. Technical difficulties," Carey's rep told Mashable. "Unfortunately there was nothing she could do to continue with the performance given the circumstances."