If you, like most of the American populace on Thursday morning, woke up and groggily turned on the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in the hopes of seeing a balloon inspired by Paddington 2 (missed opportunity!), there’s a solid chance you noticed a bunch of performers having difficulties with their float songs. And by difficulties, we don’t mean they were “off pitch†or hindered by “brutal wind chills†— rather, it was inherently obvious that lip-syncing was taking place, to the point where the Twitterati came out in full force to mock the artists. Case and point: The parade wasn’t a career milestone for Rita Ora, sorry girl.
The teasing became so bad that Macy’s, bless these apologetic executives, had no choice but to issue a statement to explain why the lip-syncing was so bad this year. “During today’s NBC broadcast of the Macy’s Parade, several recording artists experienced technical difficulties that negatively impacted their performance,†the company wrote. “We apologize and want fans to know these issues were out of the artist’s control.†Interestingly, John Legend and Ora both tweeted when the parade ended to ensure persnickety viewers actual singing isn’t possible on floats, owing to equipment concerns.
“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 wrote. “Hope y’all enjoyed it anyway. Know that if you come to my shows, the vocals are 100% live!†Ora added: “Fun fact, John Legend, 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!â€
But back to the Paddington 2 float idea. They really couldn’t do anything to honor Phoenix Buchanan, noted thespian? For shame!