Every year, pop and rock stars join the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to sing atop floats. And every year, they lip-sync their performances.
Sometimes, however, viewers get upset about the annual tradition — including this year, when scores of Twitter users went off on British pop star Rita Ora, who mimed the words to "Let You Love Me" during the Nov. 22 parade as it made its way through the streets of New York City.
Unfortunately for Rita, a technical glitch — it appears there was a several-second delay between what she was hearing and what viewers at home were hearing — meant she was woefully out of sync with her pre-recorded vocals. And many viewers were not having it.
But another high-profile star — who also had no choice but to lip-sync, though he didn't have tech issues — came to Rita's defense.
"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," John Legend tweeted. "Know that if you come to my shows, the vocals are 100% live!"
Rita then took to Twitter to thank John and explain that she, too, always sings live in concert. "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 [an] ORA show get ready! Back to holidays! Have a good one guys!"
Macy's also came to Rita's defense, tweeting, "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."
Rita shared the tweet, graciously adding, "Thank you and I appreciate the honesty and I hope everyone still had a great time!"
She also thanked a fan who told people to lay off because "we all know that Rita Ora can sing." Rita responded, "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!!"
Fans seeking to be contrary pointed out that Kelly Clarkson actually did sing live during the parade, though it appeared that her band were miming their instruments to a backing track. Others noted that the "The Voice" coach's performance took place on a non-moving stage located in the street right in front of the Macy's store, not on one of the floats journeying through Manhattan.
When a fan asked John if he actually sings while he's lip-syncing or if he just move his mouth, he replied, "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."