Her impressive appearance Celine Dion at the start of the 2024 Paris Olympics was “fake” and playback, reports in the French press say. Millions of people around the world were moved when the 56-year-old Canadian superstar sang the “Hymne à L’amour” (Hymn to Love) in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Representatives from the host country of the Olympic Games have refused to comment or answer questions from reporters about the scandal – if it is true – although they have said that Celine Dion’s appearance was “vivid”.

“What we heard on TV was a playback”said composer and performer Etienne Guéreau on “Liberation.” In comments republished across French media, a sound engineer, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “It was 100% playback, you can hear it from the first notes.”

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Others argued that it was – without a shadow of a doubt – pre-recorded, as was a rehearsal performance by Ms. Dion. A music YouTuber, who goes by the name ‘Wings of Pegasus’, reported that the rehearsal and the actual performance also sounded exactly the same, which is technically impossible as there will always be differences between two versions of a live song.

The performance at the Olympics was meant to be a triumphant return for her Celine Dion, who is fighting her own battle with Stiff Atom Syndrome. The singer was diagnosed with the rare autoimmune neurological disorder in 2022, but revealed in an interview that she battled the horrific condition in secret for nearly two decades before telling the world about it. Dion detailed the pain she felt as she was forced to withhold the truth from her fans.

The artist reported feeling like she had to hide and act like a “heroine,” while secretly realizing her body was giving up on her. Celine Dion explained that when she began to realize that something was wrong, she did not find the time to go to doctors and get the necessary tests. She recalled fighting her own battle with Stiff-Person Syndrome while her husband, René Angélil, was battling cancer. Her husband passed away in 2016.