Super Bowl Scandal: Did Chili Peppers Play Live?

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Though this year's Super Bowl halftime show featuring Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers received overwhelmingly positive reviews, it's now not without a bit of scandal -- after getting quickly called out via social media that the Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitars weren't plugged in, the band's bassist Flea has admitted to miming their show.

"Dear everybody, When we were asked by the NFL and Bruno to play our song Give It Away at the Super Bowl, it was made clear to us that the vocals would be live, but the bass, drums, and guitar would be pre-recorded," he posted to the band's website. "I understand the NFL's stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the t.v. viewers. There was not any room for argument on this. The NFL does not want to risk their show being botched by bad sound, period."

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Fansided reported on both Flea and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer's curious lack of cords on their guitars while performing their hit single Give It Away.

Last year's Super Bowl performer Beyonce was caught in a similar scandal last January, when it was revealed that she lip synced the national anthem on Inauguration Day. She later insisted on singing live during halftime.

Bruno Mars also appeared to be singing live during the big show.

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But what do you think of this new Super Bowl scandal? Is it a big deal that they weren't playing live instruments? Weigh in below.

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