“Hang on a minute, their guitars aren’t plugged in to anything” an eagle-eyed Super Bowl viewer probably said somewhere in America. And he/she was right: while Anthony Kiedis sang alongside main performer Bruno Mars live, the others were just faking it.

Flea an Anthony Kiedis watch a Lakers gameFlea an Anthony Kiedis watch a Lakers game

It took a couple days, but finally bassist Flea admitted what everyone already knew.

"When we were asked by the NFL (National Football League) 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 wrote in an open letter posted to the band’s website.

"There was not any room for argument on this,” he added in defense of the non-live set, “the NFL does not want to risk their show being botched by bad sound, period."

The letter was almost 1000 words long, so you can’t read it all here – you just can’t – but you can certainly head here to check it out. Bruno Mars and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers joined an elite club of acts to play at the Super Bowl and follows Beyoncé, who performed in 2013, as well as The Who, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith and Janet Jackson. Perhaps we should write “perform" in inverted commas though, simply to annoy peple.

“I enjoyed the show and I've no idea what the real story is nor would I want to suggest or imply anyone wasn't actually performing or that what they were playing wasn't what we actually heard. That said I feel it's important to always look on the positive side of things and to give the benefit of doubt,” wrote Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Axl Rose of the debacle.

Anthony KiedisAt least Anthony Kiedis was singing, right?