Earlier this month rumors spread that Beyonce and Jay-Z are in hiding. Beyonce hasn’t been seen in public since April.
Rumor has it they are both in hiding to avoid being served as part of sex assault cases against their longtime pal Sean “Puffy” Combs.
Jay-Z seemed to perform live with Alicia Keys at the Tony Awards on Sunday. But now comes word that the “live” performance of their hit song “Empire State of Mind” was actually pre-taped.
Fans are furious that they were tricked and the two superstars did not perform the song live. New York Magazine first reported on the pre-taped trickery.
The 54-year-old rapper’s fans were excited to see him perform a duet with Alicia, because it meant he wasn’t in hiding.
But it was all smoke and mirrors.
Alicia initially appeared at the piano on the stage of the David H. Koch Theater and began singing her and Jay-Z’s 2009 smash hit.
She then got up and exited the theater. “Had to do something crazy — It’s my hometown!” she shouted as she strolled out of the theater.
Jay-Z appeared on a giant screen over the stage. He seemed to be rapping his verse on the theater steps outside. The crowd erupted when Alicia joined him outside. She was dressed in the same Gucci outfit she wore on stage.
“Brooklyn, New York City in the Tonys tonight!” Jay-Z yelled at the end of the performance.
Wendall K. Harrington, who won a special Tony Award that evening, noted that people around her couldn’t tell whether the performance was live or pre-taped. But she was savvy enough to know what was going on.
“I was not fooled,” she said, citing her professional experience. “I’m in the projection business.”
