Rita Ora came under fire by fans after she was seen lip-syncing out of time during the Macy Thanksgiving Parade held in New York on Thursday.
Fans were quick to criticise the Let Me Love You hit-maker on social media, with many claiming the mishap had been the ‘highlight’ of their parade – prompting Rita, 27, to hit back and set the record straight.
She assured fans that she had no other choice to lip-sync, as all the artists have to during the parade, and insisted her vocals are always ‘100% live’ during all her shows, as she thanked Macy’s for their honesty as the store rushed to her defence.
Rita had taken part in the annual parade and was seen performing her single Let Me Love You onboard a float. She joined a whole host of stars, but her appearance soon became viral as fans busted the starlet for singing out of a time.
A technical glitch saw her track begin a few seconds before Rita began singing. She was unaware of the timing and was therefore seen mouthing the words to her track out of sync.
Directors were forced to cut to wide angle shots for the remainder of the song, while the London-based beauty silently played catch up.
After being hit by a wave of criticism online, Rita made sure to set the record straight. She took to Twitter after noticing fellow popstar John Legend – who had also appeared in the parade – had rushed to show Rita his support, revealing that all the artists that take part in the parade are told they have to lipsync.
Fans had pointed out that John was also seen lip-syncing, prompting the star to tweet in defence: ‘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. Hope y’all enjoyed it anyway. Know that if you come to my shows, the vocals are 100% live!’
Rita then added in response: ‘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! :).’
As another fan made sure to show Rita their support and scolded others for being so ‘quick to judge’ as ‘we all know she can sing’, the pop sensation replied: ‘Exactly!! You got that right! You know this girl doesn’t lip sync it’s not my world! Now let me go find some turkey!!’
Rita chose to hit back after finding herself being mocked online in a series of tweets. Some of those watching the parade couldn’t resist tweeting about the mishap, joking that it had been the ‘highlight’ of the event.
They posted: ‘I was almost 90% sure that I am existing in reality, but after seeing Rita Ora lip sync her song off cue on a Krazy Glue float I’m not so sure.
‘Watching Rita Ora fail at lip syncing and the camera people having to cut away from her made my #MacysDayParade,’ added another.
‘Happy Thanksgiving to the fine folks in the NBC control room who keep panning away from Rita Ora’s face because her lip-synch is off by a solid four bars.’
However, after noticing the criticism online, Macy rushed to Rita’s defence and insisted the lipsync fail had been out of the singer’s control.
Taking the blame for the technical glitch that occurred, they tweeted: ‘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.’
Thanking the store for their ‘honesty’, Rita replied: ‘Thank you and I appreciate the honesty and I hope everyone still had a great time!’
Meanwhile, John Legend’s revelations that the stars of the parade are forced to lip-sync prompted a discussion, with one fan asking whether he really mimes or still sings out loud.
They asked: ‘Do you actually sing while you lip sync or do you just move your mouth?’
‘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,’ replied John, whose wife Chrissy Teigen is the host of Lip Sync Battle.
Prior to his appearance at the parade, host Macy’s had poked fun at the couple when it re-posted John’s announcement he would be performing, alongside a 2014 tweet of Chrissy’s declaring ‘I cannot imagine being bored enough to watch a parade on television.’
Both applauded the social media team’s savagery, with Chrissy adding ‘(still didn’t watch) I’m sure ya did great kiddo.’
Aside from Rita’s ‘timeless’ performance, the other lip syncings went smoothly.
The legendary Diana Ross didn’t not care the crowd couldn’t hear her, enthusiastically pretending to sing without bothering to even bring a mic.
Ashley Tisdale meanwhile was excited to share Voices in My Head, the debut from her first album in nine years.
However one performer who was not happy to settle for the lipsyncing option was Kelly Clarkson.
The original American Idol brought her own stage, band, horn section and back-up singers, so she could belt out an authentic rendition of Heat.
The parade line-up also included Barenaked Ladies, Martina McBride, Sugarland, Carly Pearce, Kane Brown and 15-year-old Tegan Marie; the Broadway casts of Mean Girls, My Fair Lady, The Prom and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical; and or course The Radio City Rockettes.