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Shocker: Beyoncé Lip-Synched the National Anthem (Video)

Drew Grant — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:09:47 -0400

Beyoncé belts it at press conference. (Getty Images)

This is a really important time for America. This is when we decide, as a country, what the past tense of lip-sync should be. Lip-sanc? Lip-synced? Lip-sang? Hyphen or no hyphen? These are the pressing issues we need to address, America, because how else will we talk about what we already knew, which is that Beyoncé did not sing live during the inauguration, and that also--in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (as portrayed by Keenan Thompson on Saturday Night Live)--"I care why? Hashtag: Jay-Z is a lucky man."

In an awesome display of "Eff the haters" today, Beyoncé took the podium during a press conference for the Super Bowl and sang an a capella rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner,"after which she announced that yes, she went with a prerecorded track during President Obama's inauguration.

"I'm a perfectionist," Beyoncé said, explaining that weather conditions and her general throat feelings that day made her not "comfortable taking a risk."

But for anyone thinking that the diva will be hiding her tail between her legs during Super Bowl halftime this Sunday, Beyoncé had only one answer: she'll "absolutely be singing live."

Did The Onion Predict Beyonce’s Lip-Syncing Saga? (Video)

Drew Grant — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:00:42 -0400

Barack Obama lip-syncing? (The Onion)

Whether or not today's rumors about Beyonce lip-syncing the national anthem yesterday are true or not, aren't we missing the much larger point? If Beyonce wasn't really using her microphone, what's to say that President Obama didn't lip-sync his entire inaugural address?

The problem with that premise--which would have been a fine morning-after joke--was that it had already been released as a satirical video from The Onion three days before the inauguration.

Obama Caught Lip-Syncing Speech
Did The Onion have some insider information that there would be a lip-syncing debate during the inauguration? It wouldn't have been too much of a stretch. Consider this:

President Obama's speech was pre-planned: Much like Beyonce was caught by her own Instagram account holding sheet music in a recording studio before the event, multiple outlets confirmed receiving a copy of the president's text for the day before he even took the stage.

Too bad the parody video was not taken seriously at the time this video was released, allowing us to do a full investigation over claims of fake talk/singing before the Obama was resworn into office.