Did Harry Belafonte Fall Asleep On Live TV?

Oct. 18 2011, Published 1:00 p.m. ET

Legendary singer/actor Harry Belafonte inadvertently became the star of a viral video when he was caught napping during a recent on air interview with Bakersfield, California TV station KBAK.

Anchor Layla Santiago told Belafonte, 84, "Hey, good morning Harry! Wake up, wake up! This is your wake-up call!” to no response.

“OK, I'll tell you what, he's meditating,” Santiago said. “He's taking a little nap."

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The publicist for the satellite tour, Kristin Clifford, told USA Today the star was awake -- just resting his eyes -- and there was an audio glitch in his earpiece, so he couldn't hear the anchors to respond.

"Their technical difficulty was used to embarrass Mr. Belafonte," Clifford said. "This was 100% their error."

“After weeks of literally hundreds of interviews promoting his HBO documentary, memoir and CD, Mr. Belafonte had an early morning satellite TV tour this past Friday. True to form, there was a technical glitch in the feed to a local station in Bakersfield, CA. His earpiece wasn’t working, so he decided to take the time to mediate before the rest of his Day-O,” said Ken Sunshine, spokesperson for Harry Belafonte. “Mr. Belafonte is 84 years young, but sharper and more awake than most who have been interviewing him. Maybe the world would be a better place if more people took a moment to meditate.”

Belafonte's memoir My Song is in stores now.

Watch the video on RadarOnline.com

So did Harry catch some ZZZs, or is this one big misunderstanding? Leave comments below.