Billy Porter divides fans with extravagant Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade performance
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Billy Porter divided viewers after he opened up the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with a performance of Ease On Down The Road from The Wiz.
Viewers took to X after the performance to weigh in with their critiques - with some praising his introduction and others accusing the star, 55, of failing to perform live.
'I'm watching the rebroadcast of the Macy's parade, and idk who Billy Porter is, but they need to learn to lip sync,' one said.
'If you're gonna be opening the @Macys parade, atleast try and lip sync. That was terrible Billy Porter,' another wrote.
'They starting this parade with billy porter... i already wanna turn it off. & he's butchering ease on down the road,' another remarked.
'This parade is horrible. WTF does Billy Porter have to be in the Parade !! There's too much talking in this parade,' they noted.
Billy Porter divided viewers after he opened up the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with a performance of Ease On Down The Road from The Wiz
'My kids agree that the parade was worse than last year! Which is hard to believe. The only part they liked was Walker Hayes and T pain. I am not sure they are going to watch next year. And Billy Porter, seriously? What was worse, the outfit, the dancing or the horrible lipsyncing?' one viewer remarked.
One viewer took offense at the performance: 'My families annual tradition of cooking and watching the @Macys Day parade has officially ended for the first time in my life !!! We shut it off within 1 minute because they decided to shove Billy Porter down our throats! We have children watching @NBCNews !! Clean it up !!!'
But there were also plenty of fans who loved Porter's interpretation of the song.
'Ok Billy Porter kicking off the @Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade, you know we are in a new era when they let a gay black man set ishh off,' one praised.
'I enjoyed the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade opening performance by Billy Porter and Dancers,' one pleased viewer said.
'Billy Porter opening up the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Ease on Down The Road is gagged me so bad! It's BLACK AF up in here and I'm about to cryyyyy,' one posted.
'Billy Porter ate during that performance at the macys thanksgiving day parade,' one wrote.
One impressed viewer said: 'Billy Porter easing on down the road in those heels... did he walk the whole parade route?!'
'I enjoyed the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade opening performance by Billy Porter and Dancers,' one pleased viewer said
Fans weighed in with their critique of the performance on X
'Ok. Catching up on @Macys #PARADE and that "Ease On Down The Road" opening???? FABULOUS!! You can't help but dance when that song comes on.... awesome job Billy Porter!!!!'
Porter wasn't the only celeb being accused of failing to perform live during the event.
Ariana Madix was also called out by fans for 'lipsyncing for her life' during her Macys Thanksgiving Day parade performance on Thursday.
The Vanderpump Rules star, 39, who has been axed from the show as they completely recast the line-up, took to the Peacock float to perform a cover of The Cardigans' Lovefool.
Billy was among a number of stars appearing in the parade
He wore a green suit with metallic heel boots
The Love Island USA host looked radiant in a white jacket and sweater - but viewers quickly accused the star of not performing live during the performance.
One wrote: 'Ariana Madix lip syncing for her life' while a second typed: 'Umm is the #Macysparade2024 so desperate for people they are willing to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get Ariana Madix lip singing very badly to a 90’s song?'
Others wrote: 'Ariana Madix with the most obvious lip sync maybe ever
Ariana Madix was also called out by fans for 'lipsyncing for her life' during her Macys Thanksgiving Day parade performance on Thursday
'Ariana Madix from Vanderpump Rules has got to have the greatest management team in Hollywood. To go from a side piece on a B-list reality TV show to placing on Dancing With The Stars and lip synching at the Macy’s Day Parade in like a decade is just fascinating.
'I wanna know who at NBC signed off on Ariana Madix getting up on a float and lip synching. It was way too obvious.
'ariana madix is 100% lip syncing rn/
'Oh dear. Ariana Madix may be good on broadway but lip syncing is not her forté.'
Another fan praised the star for her performance, writing: 'Why is Ariana Madix the only person that knows how to accurately lip sync everyone else has been struggling all morning at this parade.'
