Beyonce has found some sympathetic ears to defend her amid reports the Grammy winner lip-synced her performance of the National Anthem for President Barack Obama's inauguration Monday.
Among the latest throwing their hats in the ring is Cyndi Lauper, who said she doesn’t know and doesn’t’ care if lip-syncing happened.
VIDEO: Beyonce 'Did Not Sing Live,' Inauguration Official Confirms
“I don’t even care. But you know, if it’s that cold, I don’t understand why you don’t do the thing inside,” Lauper said Thursday on Current TV’s Say Anything! With Joy Behar. “I was freezing.”
The Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin, is also in Beyonce’s corner, telling ABC News cold temperatures are “not good” for a singer’s voice. She said she “cracked up” when she heard the singer had lip-synced.”
“She did a beautiful job with the pre-record ... next time I'll probably do the same."
Jennifer Lopez said “sometimes it happens," on Tuesday's Daily Show. "When you're in certain stadiums and in certain venues and stuff, they do pre-record things because you're gonna have that terrible slapback."
Meanwhile, Steven Tyler put it more bluntly telling TMZ: “Beyonce’s so hot she can do anything.”
VIDEO: Beyonce (Maybe) Lip-Synced the National Anthem at Obama's Inauguration
While White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday he had “no idea” what was true, an anonymous inauguration official confirmed that Beyonce chose to use a pre-recording of herself the night before the inauguration, because she did not feel she would have adequate time to rehearse with the Marine Corps Band.
The authenticity of her performance came into question Tuesday, after reports emerged saying Beyonce had lip-synced. The Marine Corps Band preceded to issue a statement saying “we received last-minute word that Beyonce wanted to use the recording,” but following that up with another statement saying “no one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded."
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Perhaps it’s not surprising high-profile performers have been sympathetic to Beyonce’s apparent decision to use a pre-recorded track. Other high-profile performers have lyp-sinced at big events in the past, including Jennifer Hudson’s 2009 performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl. Whitney Houston famously did the same at football’s big game in 1991.
Beyonce performed "At Last" at the 2009 Inaugural Ball for the first couple. She and husband Jay-Z were prominent supporters of the President Barack Obama’s during the 2012 election, and have become close with the first family.
Beyonce is slated to perform the National Anthem at the Super Bowl Feb. 3. She has not commented on the lip-syncing issue.
Watch video of Lauper's Current TV appearance below.
