It’s not only Kenyans who crucify their artistes when they put up performances that are not up to standard. The British singer, Rita Ora has been accused of lip-syncing during her performance at America’s most famous Thanksgiving Day event in New York City.
https://twitter.com/eclechick/status/1065631020442181632
Rita Ora is so talented that she can sing on the #MacysParade without even moving her lips!
— evan romano (@EvanRomano) November 22, 2018
27-year old Miss Ora appeared to be out of sync with the vocals viewers heard during her televised performance.
However, organisers apologised to millions of viewers watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for “technical difficulties” during the iconic holiday feature.
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 (@Macys) November 22, 2018
“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,” said Macy’s on their official Twitter account.
Facing backlash on social media and being widely ridiculed for not performing live at the event in New York City, American singer, songwriter, record producer and actor John Legend who also performed in the parade came out to publicly defend Rita Ora and explained the reason why Rita lip-synced her way through 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. Hope y'all enjoyed it anyway. Know that if you come to my shows, the vocals are 100% live! https://t.co/C2bGj63AF6
— John Legend (@johnlegend) November 22, 2018
“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!” he said in a tweet.
According to Mr. Legend, it is nearly impossible to meet the sound requirements for a live performance at the Macy’s parade. He further assured fans that his shows are all usually 100% live, insinuating that the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade was an exception for reasons that are out of the artist’s control.
Despite being ridiculed, Rita Ora today released her new album dubbed Phoenix and according to sources, the record climbed to number one on iTunes UK in just a couple of minutes.