Rita Ora Lip-Syncing During Thanksgiving Day Parade, Macy's & John Legend Defend Her

Rita Ora is taking tons of heat for lip-syncing her performance at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade ... but with freezing temps and technical issues, the deck appeared to be stacked against her.

Check out the clip ... Rita is standing on a float, doing her best to put on a show, but everything is totally out of sync.

Social media users were quick to blame Rita, but Macy’s blamed the hiccups on tech issues and apologized, saying the problems were out of the artist's control.

John Legend, who also performed in the record-low temps, quickly came to Rita's defense, explaining why lip-syncing was necessary for the parade ... and they both said vocals at their shows are 100 percent live.