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Second-hand embarrassment has never been so entertaining! Join us as we count down the most cringe-worthy, face-palm inducing moments when celebrities completely missed the mark at award shows. From mispronounced names to awkward performances, these are the times Hollywood's elite proved they live in a different reality than the rest of us!
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00:00Please welcome the wickedly talented, one and only Adele Dazeem.
00:05Yeah, that's John Travolta loving Adina's name while introducing her at the 2014 Oscars.
00:11Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Times Awards show's featured moments with an amusing lack of awareness and outright cringiness.
00:18We'll be excluding incidents that carried a more serious impact, however, like the notorious Oscar slap.
00:23The feed goes silent, and so does the audience, after Will Smith takes a swing at Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars.
00:33Number 10, Sofia Vergara spinning on a pedestal.
00:36And our shows continue to have a meaningful impact around the world.
00:40So to demonstrate, we'd love for you to stand on this revolving platform.
00:44In a cringe-worthy moment at the 2014 Primetime Emmy Awards, actress Sofia Vergara was placed on a rotating pedestal
00:51during a speech by then-president of Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Bruce Rosenblum.
00:55Ments as a humorous nod to audience attention spans, it instead became criticized for objectifying the modern family star,
01:01reducing her to nothing more than a visual prop.
01:04Television has and will always be about great storytelling.
01:08Many were quick to highlight the irony of her treatment given Hollywood's ongoing issues of representation.
01:13However, Vergara defended the moment, saying she found it funny and empowering.
01:16Regardless, the backlash ignited a wider conversation about the industry's ongoing challenges
01:21as it relates to respect for women.
01:23But enough, enough!
01:25That's why I stopped doing the car shows!
01:28Number 9, Rob Lowe's Snow White Duet.
01:31Every February, you will see me on the list of Oscar embarrassments.
01:37Every year.
01:38The opening of the 1989 Oscars is remembered as one of the most baffling
01:41and out-of-touch missteps in Academy Awards history.
01:44It wasn't very glamorous to see Dorothy L'Amour being carried across the stage under the armpits by two guys.
01:51You see, producer Alan Carr enlisted Steve Silver to stage a campy musical review inspired by Beach Blanket Babylon,
01:57resulting in a surreal spectacle that paired Rob Lowe with a Snow White impersonator for, wait for it, a parody of Proud Mary.
02:04What's Rob Lowe doing singing and dancing?
02:06What's he doing with Snow White?
02:08Who is that old lady in the background?
02:10Industry icons like Julie Andrews, Gregory Peck, and Paul Newman publicly denounced it,
02:15while Disney even filed a lawsuit over the unauthorized use of Snow White.
02:18Though the suit was dropped, Academy President Richard Kahn issued an apology for the bizarre fiasco.
02:23No one was high when they came up with this.
02:25Yeah, this was just a brilliant idea that was just thrown around.
02:29Number 8. Seth MacFarlane's We Saw Your Boobs song.
02:32Seth MacFarlane sings about boobs.
02:35The Oscars are, for the most part, associated with elegance, class, and prestige.
02:402013's ceremony took a bit of a turn, however, thanks to host Seth MacFarlane.
02:44As part of his show opening, MacFarlane presented We Saw Your Boobs, a musical number that cheekily listed actresses who had appeared nude in films.
02:51While intended as a playful jab at Hollywood's objectification of women, the bit was ironically condemned as sexist and tone-deaf.
02:57Still, the routine reflected MacFarlane's trademark brand of humor, raising the question of whether the Academy should have expected something different from the man behind Family Guy.
03:05Number 7. Joe Coy Blames His Writers
03:11You're kidding me, right?
03:12When comedian Joe Coy took the stage as host of the 2024 Golden Globes, he was met with a lukewarm reception.
03:18Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project.
03:25And Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies.
03:29As for the writers who helped craft his opening monologue, well, they got the blame.
03:33Yep. After bombing with one groan-worthy joke after another, Coy was left scrambling.
03:38It's then that the comedian revealed he'd only had 10 days to prepare for the gig, and claimed he had written just some of the material, noting that the jokes that actually landed were his.
03:46Yeesh.
03:47I wrote some of these, and they're the ones you're laughing at.
03:49Naturally, the remark came off as throwing his writers onto the bus.
03:52Realizing how poorly it played, Coy later issued a public apology to his writing team.
03:56Number 6. Adrian Brody's Questionable Award Show Behavior
04:00Winning an Oscar is thrilling and all, but Adrian Brody's acceptance in 2003 quickly veered into eyebrow-raising territory.
04:06I hope that's a compliment.
04:08On his way to the stage, the pianist actor surprised presenter Halle Berry with an elaborate kiss.
04:13While it was brushed off at the time as spontaneous, many now view the moment as inappropriate.
04:17I knew nothing about it.
04:18Okay.
04:19Can I say it for real?
04:20Yeah.
04:21I was like, what the f*** is happening?
04:23Fast forward to the 2025 Oscars, and you'll find Brody tossing his chewed gum to girlfriend Georgina Chapman, before accepting another award.
04:31Adrian took it out of his mouth, spun around, and tossed it to Georgina, who gamely sprung into action and caught it in her hands.
04:37Though he later explained he didn't want to swallow it, the gesture came off as demeaning to Chapman, and well, pretty gross.
04:43Securing him yet another out-of-touch award show moment.
04:46Number 5. James Franco's Awkward Hosting
04:48The 2011 Oscars went down as one of the most uncomfortable ceremonies in Academy history.
04:53This was largely due to the odd pairing of James Franco and Anne Hathaway as the night's masters of ceremonies.
04:59But the young and hip seem to be the buzzwords that keep getting thrown around.
05:03I'm trying to figure out which one I am.
05:05I think you're hip, and I'm young.
05:07While Hathaway gave her all with upbeat energy to spare, Franco looked visibly bored, underprepared, and often distracted,
05:13leading to questions around whether he was actually under the influence.
05:16Critics and viewers slammed Franco for seemingly phoning in a performance that should have celebrated Hollywood's biggest night,
05:22leaving Hathaway to do all the heavy lifting.
05:24Here you are hosting the Oscars in 2011 with James Franco.
05:28We...
05:28Sucked.
05:29We sucked!
05:30It's safe to say that his detached hosting fell completely out of touch with the prestige and effort expected of the Academy Awards.
05:37Look at me doing all the talking while you sit there doing nothing.
05:39I feel like I'm co-hosting the Oscars with you.
05:41Number 4.
05:45Michael Jackson accepts non-existent award.
05:47I consider him the artist of the millennium.
05:49He's a true innovator who pioneered the art of music video, broke down countless barriers, and sold more records than any other artist along the way.
05:57So happy birthday, my friend, the king of pop.
05:59At the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, Michael Jackson was surprised to be the recipient of the Artist of the Millennium Award.
06:06The issue?
06:06No such award existed.
06:08Yep, MTV had simply arranged a birthday tribute that Jackson misunderstood, turning the moment into painfully awkward television.
06:14After being introduced by Britney Spears, who said she considered him the Artist of the Millennium,
06:18Jackson gave a heartfelt speech and even grabbed a decorative piece next to a cake as if it was the award.
06:23If someone had told me that one day I would be getting, as a musician, the Artist of the Millennium Award, I wouldn't have believed it.
06:33This is really amazing. I can't believe it.
06:36What was meant as a lighthearted birthday tribute instead became an amusing out-of-touch moment,
06:40with Jackson unaware that he was celebrating an award that didn't exist.
06:43All the fans around the world, I love you. God bless you. Thank you.
06:47Number 3.
06:49Bjork's Swan Dress.
06:50When Bjork arrived at the 2001 Oscars in a swan-inspired dress, jaws dropped and eyebrows were raised.
06:56The look instantly became one of the most polarizing fashion statements in award show history,
07:00and was mercifully mocked for being bizarrely out of place at Hollywood's most glamorous event.
07:04People mocked and parodied her on everything from The Ellen Show, White Chicks, My Big Fat Independent Movie,
07:10Kim Possible, Hannah Montana, to name a mere few.
07:13Bjork isn't the only one to don extreme headline-grabbing outfits at award shows, however.
07:17From Lady Gaga's meat dress at the 2010 VMAs, to Jaden Smith's castle headpiece look at the 2025 Grammys,
07:23these outrageous ensembles were designed for attention.
07:26They also underscore just how out-of-touch celebrities can seem when turning red carpets into fashion-shock theaters.
07:32The girl should be put into an asylum, greets Jane Rivers.
07:36Number 2.
07:37Kanye West Interrupts Taylor Swift.
07:39So thank you so much for giving me a chance to win a VMA award.
07:42Few award show moments are as etched in audiences' brains as the time Kanye West crashed Taylor Swift's big win at the 2009 Video Music Awards.
07:50As Swift accepted her award for Best Female Video, Kanye stormed the stage, snatched the mic, and declared that Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.
07:58Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'm gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.
08:06The stunned look on Swift's face, Beyonce's visible bewilderment, and the audience gasps, turn the interruption into instant pop culture infamy.
08:16One of the best videos of all time.
08:20Kanye was blasted for his disrespect and the sheer absurdity of the spectacle.
08:25It was equal parts shocking and amusing, a perfect storm of ego and unpredictability that cemented Kanye as a master of out-of-touch award show antics.
08:33You know, I'd like to be able to apologize to her in person, and, you know, I wanted to...
08:38So when did you know you were wrong? Was it afterwards, as you were doing it? When did it strike you? Uh-oh.
08:46Like, like, as soon as I gave the mic back to her and then she didn't keep going?
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09:06Number 1. John Travolta introduces Adele Dazeem.
09:10When it comes to hilariously out-of-touch award show slip-ups, nothing tops John Travolta's infamous blunder at the 2014 Academy Awards.
09:17They said, oh, by the way, we've changed Adina's name to phonetic spelling.
09:22I went, but what do you mean? Go!
09:24Tasked with introducing Idina Menzel to sing Frozen's breakout song, Let It Go,
09:28Travolta instead confidently announced her as the wickedly talented Adele Dazeem.
09:33Within seconds, the internet exploded.
09:36What followed were memes, parodies, and even a Travolta-fy-your-name generator widget.
09:40It just threw me a little bit.
09:42How many times a day?
09:42But now it's the best thing that's ever happened.
09:44Yeah, but now, of course.
09:45Travolta later apologized and even poked fun at himself.
09:48The actor got a do-over the following year, but was criticized again, this time for being extra touchy on stage.
09:53When it comes to John Travolta at award shows, maybe it's best we all just let it go.
10:06Which of these award show moments made you cringe the hardest?
10:09Let's chat in the comments below.
10:10To be continued...
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