Did Beyonce really lip-sync the National Anthem at President Barack Obama‘s inauguration? Yesterday (January 22nd), Kristin DuBois — a rep for the United States Marine Band said that Bey decided at the last minute to perform with a pre-recorded vocal track.

• She told Page Six, “All music is pre-recorded for the ceremony because there are so many eventualities and conditions that day. We performed, live, the band. But we received last-minute word that Beyonce was going to use the pre-recorded vocal      track. Those were the instructions we were given. We don’t know what the reason why.”

THE BACK PEDDLING BEGINS . . .

After all the hoopla, Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Gregory Wolf said that Beyonce had no chance to rehearse with the band — and going live with the band was “ill advised” and that therefore, they used a pre-recorded track for the BAND’s part of the song.

Wolf’s statement continued, “Regarding Ms. Knowles-Carter’s vocal performance, no one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded.”

• DuBois has declined to answer any further questions and Beyonce’s camp has not addressed the story as of yet.

SIDE NOTE

• The Wall Street Journal posted a video that uses audio from Beyonce’s mic      during the performance, instead of the speaker system like the tv outlets used. You can hear Beyonce’s voice over the track — and feedback from the microphone.

• In 2009, cellist Yo-Yo Ma was accused of “hand-synching” for President Obama’s first inauguration. Ma said that that his instruments weren’t functioning properly in the cold weather.

• Whitney Houston’s 1991 national anthem at the Superbowl was also pre-recorded.