Fans Rally Around Celine Dion After French Paper Suggests Her Paris Olympic Performance Was “Pre-Recorded”

Over the summer, Paris welcomed thousands of athletes and the world to celebrate the Olympic Games. Although the Olympics watched as athletes made history and others barely missed out on making it to the podium, many couldn’t get past the opening ceremony. Welcoming athletes to the Olympics using boats, fans received special performances by stars like Lady Gaga. But nothing compared to when Celine Dion stood on the Eiffel Tower to mark her first performance since being diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome. While Dion gained a mountain of praise, one news outlet recently claimed the singer “pre-recorded” the performance. 

While the Olympics happened months ago, the newspaper Libération suggested the performance from Dion wasn’t live. The headline read, “Did Celine Dion lip-sync during the Olympic opening ceremony?” Not only hurling accusations at the singer, the news outlet sought the opinion of fellow musicians and composers like Etienne Guéreau, who claimed, “What we heard on TV was a corrected playback.”

Another source, a sound engineer, appeared to agree with the idea that Dion did not perform the song live. “It was 100% playback, you can hear it from the first notes.”

Although offering different opinions on the performance, Dion received support from fans, who fired back at the newspaper. One person wrote on Twitter, “You don’t have more important information to repeat? What is this need to tarnish, to denigrate? We don’t care! You won’t take away the emotion we felt at that moment. Celine Dion’s vocal performance is admirable regardless.”

Not wanting to indulge the idea that Dion pre-recorded the performance, one fan loved watching the singer open the Olympic Games. “WE DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR CONTROVERSIES! Congratulations to Celine Dion for her performance!”

[RELATED: Kelly Clarkson Jokes She’s “Retiring” After High Praise from Celine Dion]

Celine Dion Promises She Will Perform Again

Not shying away from her struggles over the last few years, Dion opened up about her life with CBS News back in June. Giving a glimpse into the pain that comes with stiff-person syndrome, she said, “I was trying to, what, survive through this. I was trying to be brave. Because, all my life, I wanted to be the best of me.” She continued, “With the weeks and the months and the years, things started to get more, more often — every day, worse. The body started to get rigid, not flexible, more spasm, more cramping.”

Although learning to deal with the illness and continue to live her life, Dion declared, “I’ll sing again. That’s for sure.”

(Screengrab by IOC via Getty Images)