Beyonce voice hoax creator says he was 'trying to make a point'

The creator of the hoax Beyonce soundboard clip that Howard Stern played on his radio show earlier this week has revealed why he made the tape.

Beyonce yesterday denied that the clip, in which it appeared that she was drastically off-key during a rendition of ‘If I Were A Boy’, was real. Now its creator has revealed the truth behind the hoax.

“I was just trying to make a point," said Matthew Zeghibe. "I wanted to show people how easy it is to manipulate someone’s voice. If I can do it with a clip I pulled off of TV, imagine what they are doing on records and during live performances. The entire industry has been so manipulated, because there’s such an emphasis on perfection, so when something like this happens, it causes such a stir.”

Zeghibe, an art student from Connecticut, made the clip sound as if it was the real soundboard recording of Beyonce’s voice on ‘If I Were a Boy’ during a performance on the ‘Today’ show in November last year.

He said he made it as joke for his friends, and put it on YouTube. “It was just for a good laugh. It was a goof, just for fun. I do a lot of parodies on my YouTube channel, and it just so happens this one got a little out of hand,” he told Rolling Stone.

Beyonce responded to the hoax by saying she was grateful, as it drew publicity to two upcoming TV performances she was gearing up for.

--By our New York staff.
Find out more about NME.

Beyonce tickets: