Nick Cannon: 'Mariah Carey got flustered during New Year's Eve disaster'

Mariah Carey's ex-husband Nick Cannon could see the singer was getting "flustered" during her disastrous performance on New Year's Eve.

The Hero singer was the headline act for the Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest show in New York's Times Square, but her set quickly went downhill when her in-ear monitors failed and left the star awkwardly dance onstage as a backing track played behind her.

Mariah has since blamed the production team, and during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show airing on Monday (16Jan17), Nick addressed the situation.

"Anyone who knows about performing (knows that) things like that can go wrong on live television," he said. "I do live television all the time; I screw up on America's Got Talent all the time, so when there are people in your ear saying things and stuff, I think she got a little flustered."

Nick went on to praise the mother of his two children for using her diva status to her advantage as she attempted to bounce back from the flub.

"But being the diva she is, she said, I'm just going to walk around and pose for seven minutes. And like Ryan Seacrest says, she can do no wrong. So she worked through it," Nick smiled.

Following the performance, Mariah took to her Twitter page to release an audio snippet explaining her side of the story for the first time.

"I haven't really addressed the situation that happened on New Year's Eve, and in time I will," she said. "But for now, I want everyone to know that I came to New Year's Eve in New York in great spirits and was looking forward to a celebratory moment with the world.

"It's a shame that we were put into the hands of a production team with technical issues who chose to capitalize on circumstances beyond our control."

Mariah also told fans she was embarking on a self-imposed social media blackout following the criticism she attracted for her New Year's Eve disaster.