For “The Ridiculist” segment of his show tonight, Anderson Cooper turned to the post-inauguration scandal that rocked the country today. Beyoncé lip-synched the national anthem! 
 
 “I respond with a big star-spangled so what?” Cooper said. “As far as I’m concerned, it is Beyoncé’s world and we are just living in it.” 
 
 Clarifying that it was her pre-recorded voice, she just wasn’t actually singing live, Cooper continued, “I’m releasing a statement right now saying I just don’t care. We got to look at Beyoncé’s beautiful face and hear Beyoncé’s beautiful voice singing the national anthem. There is only one thing we should say today and that is thank you, Beyoncé. Francis Scott Key himself would send her a fruit basket.” 
 
 After playing clips of some of the more infamous lip-synching scandals in music history from Milli Vanilli and Ashlee Simpson, Cooper had one final message for anyone questioning Beyoncé’s decision. “Talk to me after you’ve gotten on the stage in front of the president of the United States and hundreds of thousands to sing the national anthem in 40-degree weather.” 
 
 Watch video below, via CNN: 
 
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 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| Face it, folks. A lot of live performances aren't so live sometimes, especially the ones that the whole world is watching that really need to go off without a hitch. 
 
 But it appears that Beyoncé's backing band at yesterday's presidential inauguration is now backing off a previous assertion that the pop-R&B star lip-synced the national anthem during Barack Obama's public swearing-in ceremony. 
 
 "The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) requested that the Marine Band accompany Beyoncé Knowles-Carter in the performance of the 'Star-Spangled Banner' at the 2013 Inaugural Ceremony," United States Marine Corps. media officer Capt. Gregory A. Wolf said in a statement today to E! News.
– Amid the "did she or didn't she" debate surrounding Beyonce's alleged lip-syncing of the national anthem on Inauguration Day, Anderson Cooper has weighed in on the side of "so what," reports Mediaite. "I’m releasing a statement right now saying I just don’t care," the CNN host said on the "Ridiculist" portion of his show. "We got to look at Beyonce's beautiful face and hear Beyonce's beautiful voice singing the national anthem." "There is only one thing we should say today and that is thank you, Beyonce," Cooper added. "Francis Scott Key himself would send her a fruit basket." Another defender was Piers Morgan, who tweeted that Beyonce "still sang the American national anthem better than anyone I've ever heard," E! Online reports. "Beyonce still SANG it, everyone. It was HER voice," he told critics. A spokesman for the US Marine Corps Band, which first raised the issue, now says that while the band's performance was pre-recorded, he's not sure about Beyonce's.