While Kelly Clarkson and James Taylor performed live at President Barack Obama's second inauguration on Monday, Beyonce opted instead to lip sync her way through the National Anthem, offering up a flawless performance that many viewers were upset to discover had actually been recorded earlier.
"We all know Beyonce can sing," Master Sgt. of the U.S. Marine Band Kristin duBois told ABC News on Tuesday. "We all know the Marine Corps Band can play. We do not know why she decided to go with the pre-recorded music at the last minute."
All music for the inauguration ceremony is prerecorded "because there are so many eventualities and conditions that day," DuBois told the New York Post. The band had to fake it along with the singer, The Washingtonian reported, and Beyonce hurried off stage the instant the music ended.
Beyonce's performance wasn't the main event, and it's incredibly difficult to sing live in cold and windy weather, so why does everyone seem so betrayed? Big stars lip sync all the time -- they just don't often get caught. Here's a look at some other famously fake performances:
Milli Vanilli
It was more than 20 years ago that Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus -- also known as Milli Vanilli -- were stripped of their Best New Artist Grammy award, setting the gold standard for lip-syncing embarrassment. What's worse: The voices they were crooning along to weren't even their own. "Girl You Know It's True"? Turned out, it wasn't.
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