Kanye West and Taylor Swift: “Imma Let You Finish” — 2009 MTV Video Music Awards
This will live on as one of the most cringe-worthy award show moments in history. Kanye West jumped on stage and interrupted Taylor Swift while she was giving her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV VMAs, to tell the aud!ence that Beyoncé should’ve won.
“Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!”, West said. Even Queen B looked mortified. Don’t worry—Taylor went on to win hundreds of awards over the years and Kanye later apologized.
John Travolta Calls Idina Menzel “Adele Dazeem” — 2014 Academy Awards
We can’t think of anyone that has a voice quite like Idina Menzel’s. The Wicked and Rent star is pretty unforgettable, but that didn’t stop presenter John Travolta from butchering her name before she performed “Let it Go” from Frozen at the 2014 Oscars.
Screenshot from 2014 Academy Awards
Travolta gave her quite the entrance calling her “wickedly talented one and only” before calling her “Adele Dazeem”. A year later she got her revenge, welcoming him to the 2015 Academy Awards, calling him “Glom Bazinga”.
Jennifer Lawrence Takes a Stumble — 2013 Academy Awards
As if falling down isn’t awkward enough, Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence did so while walking up the stage to accept her Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook. The actress decided to make a joke of it thanking the aud!ence for standing up after she fell.
Screenshot from 2013 Academy Awards
“I kept thinking, ‘Cakewalk, cakewalk, cakewalk.’ I thought, ‘Why is cakewalk stuck in my head?’” she told W Magazine. “I realized my stylist had told me, ‘Kick, walk, kick, walk.’ You are supposed to kick the dress out while you walk, and I totally forgot.”
Ricky Gervais Takes Digs at Hollywood — 2020 Golden Globes
Since 2020, Ricky Gervais has hosted the Golden Globes five times and the British comedian used the 2020 show to commentate on Hollywood. He said, “If you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech.”
Screenshot from 2020 Golden Globes
“You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything,” he continued. All types of taboo topics were discussed including a lack of diversity in Hollywood, Jeffrey Epstein, and Isis. He even used the opportunity to plug his show After Life.
Madonna Gets Yanked Downstairs — 2015 BRIT Awards
No matter how big of a celebrity you are, it’s always embarrassing to fall on stage, and while performing “Living For Love”, Madonna fell due to a wardrobe malfunction. Her cape got ripped off by a backup dancer before it was untied and the superstar fell backward off the steps. It just so happens it occurred when she sang, “I let down my guard”.
Screenshot from 2015 BRIT Awards
Anyway, it looked pretty pa!nful, but Madonna handled it like a true professional, taking a moment to stop singing and catch her composure before continuing with the rest of the performance.
Beyoncé and Sean Paul’s Backtrack Malfunctions—2003 MTV Europe Music Awards
We know when Beyoncé is scheduled to perform at awards shows, it’s going to be amazing. But even Queen Bey has had to deal with unfortunate moments at award shows. While performing “Baby Boy” with Sean Paul there were track malfunctions.
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“Baby boy, you are so damn fine,” kept repeating over and over and Paul continued rapping, but Beyoncé waved to the aud!ence and asked them how they’re doing before walking offstage. The duo ended up performing a re-take.
Taylor Swift Thinks She Won Another Grammy — 2014 Grammys
How embracing! To be honest, it did sound like presenter Alicia Keys was going to say Red, which explains Taylor’s facial expression when she thought her album won Album of the Year. The Grammy went to Daft Punk, who were dressed as robots, for their album Random Access Memories.
Screenshot from 2014 Grammys
At the time, Swift had already won Album of the Year back in 2010 for Fearless. As of 2021, Swift has 11 Grammys, including three Album of the Year awards. Not too bad!
Nicki Minaj Clapback at Miley Cyrus — 2015 MTV Video Music Awards
While most artists take the opportunity to thank their fans during their acceptance speeches, Nicki Minaj used hers for Best Hip-Hop Video to clapback at Miley Cyrus after she told The New York Times that Minaj is “not too kind”.
Screenshot from 2015 MTV Video Music Awards
“And now back to this b—h that had a lot to say about me the other day in the press—Miley, what’s good?”, Minaj said. We’re not sure which singer had the last laugh.
Michael Jackson Thought He Won an Award that Doesn’t Exist — 2002 MTV Video Music Awards
There’s no doubt that Michael Jackson is one of the most influential artists of the century and when Britney Spears introduced him to wish him a “happy birthday” at the 2002 MTV VMAs, saying she considered him the “artist of the millennium”, he walked on stage and delivered an acceptance speech.
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“When I was a little boy in Indiana if someone had told me I’d be getting the ‘Artist of the Millennium award,’ I wouldn’t have believed it,” the late King of Pop said. Well, it turns out that there’s no such award. He had us fooled.
Sofia Vergara Stands on a Pedestal — 2014 Emmy Awards
There’s no denying that Sofia Vergara is one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood and it’s clear that the Television Academy’s chairman Bruce Rosenblum also thinks that.
Screenshot from 2014 Emmy Awards
The Modern Family actress struck a pose while Rosenblum gave a speech about the TV industry that ended with, “What truly matters is that we never forget that our success is based on always giving the viewer something compelling to watch.” Vergara certainly gave us something to watch. She looked like the award!
Anne Hathaway and James Franco — 2011 Academy Awards
When two actors host the Oscars, sometimes their chemistry is on point and other times it ends up like Anne Hathaway and James Franco’s hosting. The two actors couldn’t be more opposite—she had tons of energy and he was laid-back the entire night. There was no spark between them.
Screenshot from 2011 Academy Awards
There were tons of cringy moments, but the tip of the iceberg was when Franco dressed up as Marilyn Monroe from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Franco didn’t have too bad of a night—he was nominated for Best Actor for 127 Hours.
The Pussycat Dolls’ Melody Shows Up Late to Performance — 2006 American Music Awards
Here’s another performance that didn’t go quite as planned. The Pussycat Dolls’ performance of “Buttons” was going so well, that we almost didn’t notice a group member was missing for the majority of it. Melody Thornton showed up on stage late with only 40 seconds left in the number and then proceeded to sing over Nicole Scherzinger’s vocals.
Screenshot from 2006 American Music Awards
In 2019, Thornton told Mirror she felt “worthless” while in the group. We wonder if that had anything to do with the infamous performance.
Jennifer Lopez Falls While Performing — 2009 American Music Awards
Not only is Jennifer Lopez an amazing singer, she’s also a great dancer, which makes her performances even more exciting. During her performance of “Louboutins” she attempted a stunt, using her backup dancers as a staircase and climbing up them before jumping off the last one. But she didn’t quite make the landing and ended up falling on her butt.
Screenshot from 2009 American Music Awards
Being the professional that she is, we barely noticed as she hopped back to her feet immediately and finished the number with even more energy. The mistake seems to have lit a fire in her.
Angelina Jolie and Her Brother James Haven Kiss — 2000 Academy Awards
Even though Angelina Jolie won Best Supporting Actress for Girl Interrupted at the 2000 Academy Awards, it was the kiss she had with her brother James Haven that people couldn’t stop talking about.
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The two siblings kissed on the lips on the red carpet and during her acceptance speech she said, “I’m so in love with my brother right now, he just held me and said he loved me.” While it may’ve not be strange for the brother and sister duo who have a history of being close, it caught us off guard.
Lil Mama Shows Up to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ Performance — 2009 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2009 MTV VMAs were filled with memorable moments. In addition to Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech, Lil Mama showed up uninvited to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ performance of “Empire State of Mind”.
Screenshot from 2009 MTV Video Music Awards
The rapper ended up posing with Jay-Z and Keys at the end of the song. She later apologized for the inc!dent on MTV News saying, “I want to apologize. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful … I was feelin’ it and it just happened.” Can you blame Lil Mama? The song is really inspiring.
Man Streaks When Elizabeth Taylor’s Introduction — 1974 Academy Awards
We can’t help but wonder how this man made it past security at the Oscars. When co-host David Niven was introducing Elizabeth Taylor, a n*ked man ran across the stage, making a peace sign.
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Niven and Taylor handled the unplanned interruption like champs and she said, “that’s a pretty hard act to follow”. The streaker, an artist, photographer, and g*y rights activist, ended up getting some publicity for his work.
Jacqueline Bisset’s Acceptance Speech — 2014 Golden Globes
Sometimes actors are surprised when they win and it takes a bit of time to sink in, and that may be what happened to Jacqueline Bisset when she won for Best Supporting Actress in a TV Show, Miniseries, or TV Movie for Dancing on the Edge.
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The acceptance speech was a bit unusual—Bisset dropped the “S word” and followed it by saying, “Like my mother used to say, ‘Go to hell and don’t come back.’” At least she had her first Golden Globe win after being nominated five times.
Katy Perry Keeps Falling — 2008 MTV Latin America Awards
As if Katy Perry’s performance of “I Kissed a Girl” at the MTV Latin America Awards wasn’t memorable enough, at the end of it she jumped into a big pink cake and then slipped on icing and couldn’t get back up.
Screenshot from 2008 MTV Latin America Awards
It must’ve been really slippery because even after her guitarist tried to help her up, she slipped not once, not twice, but four times! Eventually, she just crawled away.
Nicole Kidman’s Clapping — 2017 Academy Awards
Ever since the 2017 Academy Awards, Nicole Kidman’s been getting a lot of attention and it’s not for the reason you may think. It’s her unique method of clapping. People noticed the clapping looked seal-like and before long, memes of Kidman’s clapping started popping up.
Screenshot from 2017 Academy Awards
The actress later told KISS FM she was doing it to avoid damaging her expensive rings. “It was really awkward! I was like gosh, I want to clap, I don’t want to not be clapping, which would be worse, right? ‘Why isn’t Nicole clapping?’”
Man Appears Behind Neil Patrick Harris — 2013 Emmy Awards
Neil Patrick Harris has hosted the Emmys twice and during his second time, a random man appeared behind him. The man seemed like he had no idea an award show was taking place and he ended up sidestepping offstage.
Screenshot from 2013 Emmy Awards
To this day we’re not sure if it was planned as the man was Paul Greenberg, a writer on the award show. You’d think Greenberg would’ve known that the show was happening.
Miguel Falls on a Fan — 2013 Billboard Music Awards
When Miguel was performing “Adorn”, the performance was almost flawless until he jumped from one part of the stage to another and ended up falling on some fans.
Screenshot from 2013 Billboard Music Awards
And it looked like it must’ve hurt. Everyone ended up being alright in the end—Miguel and one of the fans he landed on were interviewed backstage and he told Billboard, “I’m very happy to bring my new friend, Khyati, we just met. Unfortunately we did not meet under the best circumstances, but I think we’re okay.”
Joe Jonas Falls and !njures His Hand — 2007 American Music Awards
The Jonas Brothers made a grand entrance to their performance of “SOS”—they had three panels of glass shatter in front of them. While it looked super cool, Joe ended up tripping over the panel, slicing his hand on the glass on the ground.
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A little cut didn’t get in the way of an amazing performance—Joe quickly recovered and finished the song. Backstage he said, “Just a little blo0d, but, whatever, rock and roll,” as PEOPLE reported.
Sam Smith Messes Up an Ian McKellen Quote —2016 Academy Awards
Winning an Oscar is a huge deal and when Sam Smith won Best Original Song for “Writing on the Wall”, which is their first and only as of 2021, they ended up dedicating the moment to the LGBT community and quoting Sir Ian McKellen that “no openly g*y man had won an Oscar”.
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McKellen actually said no g*y man had won the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Oscar. There were no hard feelings—McKellen defended and congratulated the singer on Twitter.
Seth McFarlane Offends People — 2013 Academy Awards
Things have changed a lot since 2013 and we can’t help but think Family Guy’s Seth McFarlane’s jokes wouldn’t fair well now. Many thought the host was a bit s*xist and his opening number of “We Saw Your B00bs” with pre-recorded shots of Charlize Theron and Naomi Watts giving looks of mortification, offended lots of viewers.
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Even still, ratings for the show went up, and the comedian was asked back to host the following year.
Chrissy Teigen’s Crying Face — 2015 Golden Globes
Nicole Kidman’s seal-like clapping isn’t the only awards show moment to become a meme. Chrissy Teigen’s crying face when her husband John Legend walked on stage to accept his award for Best Original Song became social media famous.
Screenshot from 2015 Golden Globes
After her crying face went viral, Teigen tweeted, “Sorry I don’t practice my cry face okay. It’s been 5 minutes and I’m a meme.” Years later and the meme is still having a moment.
“La La Land” and “Moonlight” Best Picture Mix-Up — 2017 Academy Awards
Sometimes there are mix-ups at award shows and the Best Picture winner at the 2017 Academy Awards is one of the most famous cases. When Bonny and Clyde actors Faye Dunaway and Warren Be*tty were presenting the award, they were given the wrong envelope. They announced La La Land won, but Moonlight was the actual winner.
Screenshot from 2017 Academy Awards
It turns out the presenters were handed the envelope announcing Emma Stone’s Best Actress Award, which had already been announced. The mix-up was cleared up, but only after La La Land made their acceptance speech.
David Letterman Makes a Bad Joke — 1995 Academy Awards
Hosting award shows isn’t easy and not all jokes land. Former Late Show host David Letterman hosted the 1995 Oscars and he started off the night with a joke that we’re still trying to wrap our heads around. He said, “I’ve been dy!ng to do something all day and I think maybe we can take care of this.”
Screenshot from 1995 Academy Awards
“Oprah? Uma. Uma? Oprah. I feel much better. Have you kids met Keanu?” Yeah, we don’t get it either.
Leonardo DiCaprio Made a Face at Lady Gaga — 2016 Golden Globes
Here’s another award show moment that turned viral. This one turned into a GIF and it happened when Lady Gaga squeezed by Leonardo DiCaprio to accept her Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture for TV for American H0rror Story: Hotel. The actor appeared to be cringing as she walked past him.
Screenshot from 2016 Golden Globes
DiCaprio cleared up the confusion later, telling Entertainment Tonight, “I just didn’t know what was passing me, that’s all!”
Faith Hill’s Reaction to Carrie Underwood’s Win — 2006 Country Music Awards
By now, we’re sure you’ve realized things aren’t always what they seem, and when Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood were nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, Hill appeared to be less than thrilled about losing to Underwood. Upon hearing the winner, Hill’s smile turns to a frown and she’s seen shouting “WHAT”.
Screenshot from 2006 Country Music Awards
Fans thought Hill was upset over the loss, but the singer cleared up the confusion on her website saying, “The idea that I would act disrespectful towards a fellow musician is unimaginable to me … Carrie is a talented and deserving Female Vocalist of the Year.”
Rob Lowe Sings With Snow White — 1989 Academy Awards
Hollywood heartthrob Rob Lowe is a great actor, but he’s not known for his singing. His opening performance at the 1989 Oscars with an actress dressed up like Snow White was certainly entertaining but it got mixed reviews.
Screenshot from 1989 Academy Awards
Grease’s producer Allan Carr was the mastermind behind it and he was shunned in Hollywood after the performance and Disney wasn’t happy about the unauthorized use of a copyrighted version of Snow White as well.
Nicki Minaj’s Wardrobe Malfunction — 2014 MTV Music Video Awards
They say “the show must go on” and Nicki Minaj did just that during her performance of “Bang Bang” with Ariana Grande and Jessie J. Minaj had to make a quick wardrobe change between her solo performance and the group performance and she decided to make a last-minute decision to wear a black dress to match the singers.
Screenshot from 2014 MTV Music Video Awards
But as the music started playing, Minaj couldn’t get the zipper up, so she went on stage with her dress open, literally holding up the dress with her hands while rapping. What’s worse is she wasn’t wearing any underwear.
Britney Spears’ Performance is Off — 2007 MTV Video Music Awards
Britney Spears has given many breathtaking VMA performances like her “Slave 4 U” one where she performed with a python wrapped around her shoulders, but her 2007 performance of “Gimme More” was a bit off. Britney seemed distracted and her dancing was off rhythm. Many thought it would be the singer’s comeback, but instead critics declared that her career was over.
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But Britney bounced back and when she h!t the VMA stage in 2016, she gave the performance of a lifetime, proving everyone wrong.
Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress — 2010 MTV Video Music Awards
Lady Gaga’s has had some questionable, yet amazing outfits over the years with one of them being the infamous meat dress. Who can forget this fashion statement? When winning Album of the Year for The Fame she shocked everyone by accepting the award in a gown made of meat.
Image by BDG/Shutterstock (1224322j)
The gown had mixed reviews, but it ended up being one of the most memorable moments of her career to date. The dress was dried out and it’s displayed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Nicole Kidman Ignores Rami Malek — 2019 Golden Globes
Typically, the presenter of the award hands the winner the trophy and gives them a warm hug, but when Nicole Kidman was presenting Rami Malek the award for Best Drama for Bohemian Rhapsody, that didn’t happen. Kidman turned away from Malek as he accepted the award and he gently touched her back, perhaps hoping she would turn around.
Screenshot from 2019 Golden Globes
“We’re really good friends. I just did not feel his hand on my back,” Kidman later explained to Entertainment Tonight. Apparently, the two were emailing after it went viral and “were laughing” about it.
Natalie Portman Points Out the All-Male Best Director Nominees — 2018 Golden Globes
Hollywood has gotten a lot of controversy about the all-male and all-white nominees and Natalie Portman wasn’t afraid to call them out when presenting the award for Best Director at the Golden Globes alongside Ron Howard.
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Prior to the montage of films for Best Director nominees, Portman said, “Here are the all-male nominees.” Co-presenter Howard laughed as Portman kept a serious look on her face. Props to Portman for not being afraid to speak her mind!
Miley Cyrus’ Twerking — 2013 MTV Video Music Awards
Do you remember when Miley Cyrus was a Disney star? It seems like forever ago. Back in 2013 when she was shedding her Hannah Montana image and had just released Bangerz, she took the stage at the VMAs with Robin Thick to perform his single “Blurred Lines”.
Screenshot from 2013 MTV Video Music Awards
Miley wore a flesh-toned latex bra and matching bottoms and twerked with Thick, while waving a foam finger and sticking her tongue out. While the performance was met with criticism and the FCC received complaints, we can’t help but think, “Oh, she just being Miley”.
Björk Lays an Egg While Wearing a Swan Dress — 2001 Academy Awards
Björk’s swan dress will forever go down as one of the most iconic red carpet looks and if that wasn’t enough, the singer became a swan. That’s right—she laid an egg while posing. And that’s not all—she came with a half dozen eggs to lay around the red carpet!
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The eggs were tucked into her dress to complete her swan transformation. When the moment was right and the cameras were on her, she laid the eggs. Talk about campy!
Elinor Burkett Rushes to the Stage — 2009 Academy Awards
It turns out that Kanye West isn’t the only one to rush the stage during an acceptance speech—Elinor Burkett did it at the Oscars that same year. Burkett had been part of the production crew for the film that won for Best Documentary, Music by Prudence, but was removed by the rest of the film’s producers.
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The film’s producer Roger Ross Williams was just 10 seconds into his acceptance speech when Burkett rushed the stage and stared giving her own speech. Williams handled it professionally, reclaiming the attention.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Acceptance Speech — 1998 Academy Awards
Sometimes speeches seem to go on forever and Gwyneth Paltrow’s speech when she won Best Actress for Shakespeare in Love did just that. The list of people she thanked went on and on. In the emotional speech, she thanked everyone from the Academy and all of the other women nominated in the category to her family and her agent.
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Even Paltrow says she never watches the speech. While it’s known as the day Oscars sincerity d!ed, we don’t think the speech was that bad. We bet she didn’t forget to thank anyone.
Kristie Alley’s Uncouth Joke — 1991 Emmy Awards
Do you remember how cute Macaulay Culkin was presenting the Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Cheers to Kristie Alley? It was completely juxtaposed by the uncouth joke the actress made thanking her then-husband, Parker Stevenson.
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Allie referred to him as “the man who has given me the big one for the last eight years”. Can you say too much information? The joke must’ve flown over the adorable Culkin’s head.
Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Jennifer Aniston in the Same Room — 2009 Academy Awards
The world was shocked when power couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston ended their marriage in 2005. Well maybe his Mr. & Mrs. Smith costar Angelina Jolie wasn’t surprised. Even four years after their separation, things were still awkward for Pitt and Aniston at the Oscars.
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Pitt and Jolie were together in the front row while Aniston was presenting. As Aniston presented, Pitt and Jolie had huge smiles on their faces and they clapped when Aniston walked off and joined her date, her then boyfriend John Mayer.
