Rita Ora Receives Support From Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade After Lip Syncing Snafu

Rita Ora’s lip syncing malfunction during the 92nd annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday was not her fault, the retail giant says.

Macy’s took to social media to release a statement regarding the “technical difficulties” that resulted in Ora’s performance that turned many heads during the parade.

“During today’s NBC broadcast of the #MacysParade several recording artists experienced technical difficulties that negatively impacted their performance. We apologize and want fans to know these issues were out of the artist’s control,” Macy’s said.

Ora seemed to appreciate the company’s statement, and responded, “Thank you and I appreciate the honesty and I hope everyone still had a great time!”

Singer John Legend, who sang “Merry Little Christmas” from his new Christmas album atop the Build-A-Bear float during Thursday’s parade, also came to Ora’s defense, telling viewers that artists are required to lip sync during the event.

“Fun fact. We all have to lip sync on this parade because the floats don’t have the capacity to handle the sound requirements for a live performance,” Legend tweeted after Twitter exploded with reactions to Ora’s performance. “Hope y’all enjoyed it anyway. Know that if you come to my shows, the vocals are 100% live!”

Ora responded to Legend’s tweet as well, writing, “Fun fact @johnlegend thank you for clarifying what I was about to also tweet. It’s annoying for us but anyway! All my shows are 100 percent live always have been! When you come to a ORA show get ready! Back to holidays! Have a good one guys!”

Later on, Legend responded to a fan who asked if he actually signs along during lip syncing events or if he simply moves his mouth with the words. “I sang exactly as I would’ve if you could hear me. I figure that’s the only way to believably do it. But I’m not an expert in these matters,” he tweeted.

Other than the technical difficulties, the parade in New York City went off without a hitch, despite it being one of the coldest Thanksgiving Days on record. Police also warned organizers that if winds exceeded 34 mph on Thursday, the large balloons would have to be grounded. However, the windy conditions did not worsen throughout the morning and every float was able to see the sunny Thanksgiving day.

Fans reacted strongly to one float in particular: the Pillsbury Doughboy balloon, which many viewers pointed out had a demented face, which could have been due to the wind or cold conditions of the day. Click here to see what happened to the Doughboy.

Photo credit: Gotham / Contributor / Getty