If you thought Brendan Fraser’s clapping was weird, how about Nicole Kidman’s? Maybe she was trying to reinvent clapping. Maybe she was trying to be careful not to mess up her nails somehow. We don’t know for sure.
But what we do know is that this clapping moment became a huge meme overnight, and honestly? We can’t blame the internet for it. That’s a pretty strange way to clap your hands, let alone when you’re being filmed.
Many people know Dakota Johnson as the lead actress in 50 Shades of Grey, but she’s also daughter to iconic actress Melanie Griffith. This mother-daughter duo might be famous, but that doesn’t mean they don’t occasionally engage in some family drama just like the rest of us. During a red carpet interview at the 2015 Academy Awards, the two experienced an especially uncomfortable moment when Griffith was asked whether she’s seen 50 Shades – as it famously has some pretty racy scenes.
The actress replied she hadn’t seen it, and when the interviewer suggested she should, she refused. Dakota commented that “maybe someday” she will, but Griffith was pretty persistent on the matter. Dakota eventually snapped, telling her angrily, “Alright! You don’t have to see it,” which left people cringing pretty hard.
James Franco won the award for Best Actor last year at the Golden Globes, for his role in the self-directed The Disaster Artist. In case you didn’t know, the movie tells the story of Tommy Wiseau, who created a movie called The Room – which is considered to be one of the worst movies of all time by critics. So bad, it gained a cult-like following and earned him fame.
When Franco waved Wiseau on stage during his speech, everyone thought he was letting him have his moment in the spotlight, but when Tommy tried to speak to the microphone, Franco took it away, not allowing him to speak. People were actively shrinking away in their seats.
At the 2020 Golden Globe Awards, Joaquin Phoenix took home the award for Best Actor for his role in Joker. However, fans couldn’t help but notice that during his big moment, while all of the other actors gave Phoenix a standing ovation, Beyonce just sat there and didn’t stand up.
Things only became more awkward once the actor started giving his controversial and expletive-filled acceptance speech that ended with him getting played off by the infamous award show music.
Reese Witherspoon may be America’s sweetheart, but apparently she doesn’t hold back on criticism when she deems it necessary. When the actress won an MTV Movie Award in 2011, she took to the stage and delivered a message to young girls that you don’t need your own reality TV show to succeed in the business.
She added that back in the day having an intimate tape would be something to be embarrassed about. This led people to believe she was hitting Kim Kardashian with some harsh criticism, and was totally cringe-worthy.
You know when you see a friend and you run to say “hi,” but then you realize that’s not your friend and you want to bury your head under the pavement? This is kinda what happened to John Travolta.
During the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, he was supposed to give Taylor Swift an award, but he almost gave it to the wrong person. The singer brought the cast of her “You Need To Calm Down” video on stage, including her impersonator Jade Jolie – also known as Josh Green, a performer famous for competing on a certain RuPaul show. He was dressed as Taylor, so Travolta naturally (?) got the two mixed up.
We all remember that moment in 2013, when Jennifer Lawrence won her very first Golden Globe, thanks to her unforgettable speech. Jen was given her Globe and started by saying “I beat Meryl!” and of course – got some pretty bad backlash from people who thought she hated the esteemed actress.
Putting aside that she really did beat Meryl Streep, and that she just seemed really excited, she was actually making a reference to the iconic film First Wives Club – one that most people just didn’t get. To this Jen responded during an interview, that it’s never a good thing for her to improvise.
What’s worse than completely misreading your buddy’s cue and going for a first bump when he intends to do a high five? Doing so on live TV while accepting a major award. Just ask Leonardo DiCaprio, who accepted the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) for The Revenant.
While the movie would go on to net him his first Oscar statuette, this horror show clearly wasn’t a winner. It lasted only seconds, but seemed to go on forever, as Leo’s neighbor insisted to keep trying to get it right – and failed.
Many people who tuned in to watch the Oscars this week, noticed there was a particularly cringe-worthy moment during Giuliana Rancic’s interview with Bradley Cooper. She was telling him how much the movie had made her fall even more in love with her husband, and asked him how he felt about putting something like that out there.
He replied that they were all working as hard as they could, and said, “Other than that I don’t know.” The internet flipped out, naturally, about the fact that she pretty much poured her heart out in front of him and he reacted so dryly.
Chrissy Teigen is a gift to the world, but more than anything, she’s a gift to the internet. During the 2015 Golden Globes, she provided us with a meme that would entertain us for years. In fact, we still think it’s one of our favorite memes of all time.
As her husband performed on stage, Chrissy just couldn’t keep her tears to herself. She was a wreck, but the camera seemed to pan to her at the right time. Instead of looking upset, she looked like she had a bad smell under her nose…
Remember Oprah Winfrey’s legendary speech from the 2018 Golden Globes? Well, it inspired many people to call out injustice, and Natalie Portman was particularly ready to do just that right after that speech.
When she and director Ron Howard took the stage to present the award for the best director category, Natalie decided to call out Hollywood’s men club, saying, “And here are the all-male nominees.” Ron’s awkward laughter proved just how uncomfortable it was in the room following her statement.
It’s been a year since Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s steamy on-stage performance of Shallow at the 2019 Oscars, and we still can’t seem to get over it. This year at the 2020 Grammys, fans were wondering if we were going to finally see a reunion of the A Star Is Born duo.
They were, after all, nominated three more times this year for the 2018 film’s soundtrack, which was confusingly released past the 2019 Grammy deadline. Despite winning two of them, the co-stars were nowhere to be seen, which many assume has something to do with the rumors surrounding their undeniable chemistry when they are together.
Sometimes it can be difficult to pronounce the names of people you’ve never met before. People come from many different cultures, so sometimes they have names you aren’t familiar with. That’s probably not the excuse that Tiffany Haddish can use at the VMAs in 2018 when introducing Camila Cabello.
The singer was up for five awards that night, and her name should have been familiar to Haddish, who was hosting. Instead, she got her words mixed up and stumbled, but Cabello seemed to take it pretty well.
Another moment that was hard to miss during this year’s Academy Awards, came right after Rami Malek had won his Oscar for Best Actor for his role as the legendary Freddy Mercury. The actor was trying to walk off stage to reunite with his co-star and girlfriend Lucy Boyton.
Then he suddenly took a tumble off stage. Paramedics immediately came to see everything was okay, but thankfully there was no harm done for the embarrassed Bohemian Rhapsody star.
Nicki Minaj is known for being pretty outspoken. If she has something to say, she’ll say it – even if that means throwing some shade at people. And when Miley Cyrus mentioned in an interview that Nicki isn’t “too kind,” she was taking none of it.
During the 2015 VMAs, the rapper was on the stage after winning for Best Hip-Hop Video – which was the perfect moment to bring it up, obviously. She asked, “Miley, what’s good?” Honestly, we would be flipping out.
In 2016, Lady Gaga won a Golden Globe for her performance in American Horror Story, and as she made her way to the stage… well, this face happened. Leonardo DiCaprio’s reaction towards the singer and actress was so inappropriate, it went viral right away.
There were comments everywhere saying he was flinching away like he didn’t want any TV to rub off on him. The actor went ahead and denied the claims, saying he just didn’t realize what was brushing past him, but the internet wasn’t convinced.
In 2019, Beyonce Knowles-Carter is a musical goddess. In 2003, however, she was an up-and-comer that had a lot to prove as a solo artist away from Destiny’s Child. If her 2003 performance of Baby Boy at the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards was any indication, it would be a bumpy ride.
Taking the stage with rapper Sean Paul, Queen Bey went through the song, until technical difficulties caused the backing vocals to loop and play again… and again… and again. A confused, embarrassed Beyonce waved to the crowd and asked them how they were doing, before walking off-stage.
The Academy Awards have always been the most prestigious of awards, and winning the Oscar for Best Picture is probably every filmmakers dream. But apparently, even the biggest award show in the world can’t go flawlessly. In 2017, when acting legends Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty presented the award for Best Picture, they received the wrong envelope and declared the winner to be La La Land.
It was only after the entire cast and crew went onstage and were giving their speeches, when the mistake was corrected. As La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz was whispered what happened, he said, “‘Moonlight,’ you guys won.” Needless to say, the entire crowd – as well as the viewers at home – were stunned.
We’ve had celebs accidentally falling onstage, so how about one that intentionally crawled on all fours? In 2015, Jon Hamm was taking a victory lap for his role as Don Draper on Mad Men. It was a role that garnered him seven Emmy nominations for Lead Actor in a Drama Series, but the prize had always eluded him.
Then, in 2015, he finally won. Ecstatic, Hamm decided to ascend to the stage rather uniquely – by crawling onto it from the floor as the crowd watched in amazement. Later, even Hamm himself said he was “mortified” at what he’d done.
Yes, Madonna really is on this list for the second time. During the 2015 Brit Awards, this leading lady found herself taking a bit of a tumble, and it proved the point that not all heroes wear capes. While in the midst of a cape-ridden performance, Madonna’s backing dancer was supposed to pull off the caped addition to allow the singer to roam free.
The only problem was that the cape wasn’t ripped off in time, and Madonna soon fell backward down a rather steep set of stairs. It was terrifying and awkward, to say the least.
The red carpet is normally the moment where people’s jaws hit the floor because of the extravagant dresses and outfits the stars wear. People couldn’t stop looking at Angelina Jolie for a different reason at the 2000 Academy Awards.
Right on the red carpet, she and her brother planted a big kiss on each other’s lips, and the world collectively became confused. Later that night she won an Oscar for Best Actress, before saying, “I’m in love with my brother right now” during her acceptance speech.
What most of us don’t see is that every award show has backstage workers that pull everything together. While they are rarely seen, they can sometimes be spotted in the background. This was the case during the 2013 Emmy Awards when an offstage intruder found himself directly behind Neil Patrick Harris.
With the camera on him, he knew that he had to do something. So, he decided to inch away as slowly as possible, and it was pretty awkward. Of course, it was also pretty hilarious at the same time.
Let’s face it, Kristen Stewart isn’t exactly known for being the most graceful person. She’s a talented actress, but when it comes to awkwardness, she resembles her iconic character, Bella in Twilight, more than she’s probably like to admit. During the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, the actress actually dropped her Golden Popcorn award and managed to break it.
She commented by saying, “I was just about as awkward as you thought I was going to be. Bye!” Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
People everywhere were straight up baffled when John Travolta performed this award show faux-pas. At the 2014 Oscars, he was supposed to announce Idina Menzel before she took the stage, and clearly he has not practiced the moment.
Granted, it isn’t such a hard name to pronounce, but the actor ended up calling for an “Adele Dazeem” to take the stage. The two laughed it off together later, but we were pretty embarrassed for Travolta there.
Taylor Swift has been around for quite some time, starting her way as a country singer and making her way into the pop scene. One of the most famous (or perhaps infamous?) things about the singer is her tendency to lace real-life drama and disputes into her songwriting. As consequence of that, the world has become very aware of her ongoing dispute with rapper Kanye West – but it all started during an award show.
At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards Taylor snagged the award for Best Female Video for the song “You Belong With Me” and barely had time to accept her award before Kanye burst onto the stage, took the mic, and rambled on how Beyoncé should’ve won for her video. “I was standing onstage, and I was really excited,” Taylor later said. “…I wasn’t excited anymore after that.”
Oh, Katy Perry. We love the pop singer for being as bubbly and colorful as she is, and she gets extra points for originality. When she performed at the 2008 MTV Latin America Awards, she was at the very beginning of her career, and she sang “I Kissed A Girl.”
At the end, she leaped on a giant cake and was left covered with frosting. But as it turned out, that frosting was pretty slippery, which made her fall down not one, but several times!
We all know that Sofia Vergara is one of the most attractive women on the planet – it’s not exactly a secret. She’s got it all, and is pretty famous for her beautiful curves. But at the 2014 Emmys, chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Bruce Rosenblum decided to put the actress on an actual pedestal.
It was rotated 360 degrees so everyone could get a look at this marvelous woman in all her glory. This seemed like taking things way too far, and was deemed as slightly creepy by the viewers – but you’ll be the judge of that.
It’s difficult to be nominated for an award, knowing that in the moment the winner is announced, you’d have a camera in your face recording your reaction. You have to be on your best behavior at all times, just like Joey learned in Friends. But we digress.
Taylor Swift had an embarrassing moment in 2014 when – in all the excitement – she accidentally thought her album “Red” had won for Album of the Year at the Grammys. Daft Punk actually had the winning album, and their album began with the letter “R” as well – hence the mix-up.
During the 2015 Academy Awards red carpet, Scarlett Johansson was posing for pictures when she suddenly found herself in the arms of one John Travolta. That’s right, his “Adele Dazeem” moment isn’t the only awkward one for him when it comes to award shows.
When he noticed the Avengers actress posing for the cameras, he somehow felt it was a good moment to wrap an arm around her and kiss her on the cheek. The serious side-eye Scarlett is making pretty much says it all.
Honestly, we wouldn’t even know where to start with this one, and we might just call the whole show one big travesty. Anne Hathaway and James Franco hosting the 2011 Oscars was just the way it sounds like.
Hathaway admitted she initially tried to turn down the gig, but eventually came around. “Your first instinct is usually the right one,” she said. Many people felt the show was completely awkward, as James Franco looked detached and even sleepy, which completely threw off their dynamics and made jokes embarrassing instead of funny.
Don’t get us wrong, we’ve loved Brendan Fraser ever since we first laid eyes on him in The Mummy. The actor has been going in and out of the spotlight for years now, but in 2010 he was making headlines for a pretty strange reason.
It was a particular shot of the actor clapping his hands at the Golden Globes – or at least, trying to clap his hands? We’re not sure what he was going for, but his bizarre clap resulted in endless hilarious memes.
If you haven’t seen A Star Is Born, you probably should. One of the things that make this movie so great is the unbelievable chemistry between its two leads – Bradley Cooper (who also directed) and singer Lady Gaga. These two gave people all the feels, and the internet reacted accordingly, saying they must be in love – and that this is probably the reason behind Gaga’s breakup with fiancé Christian Carino.
Their performance at the Oscars didn’t help, as it was so incredibly intimate, it almost felt wrong to watch. Many people commented the way they were looking at each other was more than inappropriate, especially with Bradley’s longtime girlfriend Irina Shayk sitting in the audience. While Bradley kept claiming that Irina was okay with it all, many believe otherwise – and perhaps their June 2019 breakup points that his “acting” with Gaga caused some trouble in paradise.
At the VMA Awards in 2002, Michael Jackson misheard Britney Spears as she introduced him which caused confusion all over the world. Spears said for her Jackson had been the artist of the millennium, and MJ thought that was the award Britney was giving to him.
He began his acceptance speech for the ‘Artist of the Millenium’ even though that award didn’t actually exist. It was actually meant to be a special birthday segment for the singer, but no one had the heart to stop him.
People all over the world were devastated to hear about the passing of musical legend Aretha Franklin. Last year at the VMAs, Madonna paid tribute to the Queen of Soul. Only problem? She couldn’t stop talking about Madonna. She talked about herself, and her personal journey to success, during the whole thing.
People weren’t having any of it, and were commenting on the fact that the singer has made the speech all about herself. The twist? Madonna later said it wasn’t meant to be a tribute to Aretha at all.
At the 2014 Hollywood Film Awards, Johnny Depp was supposed to introduce a documentary called Supermensch. But when he took to the stage, many viewers noticed something was a little off. He seemed more than just a little tipsy – it seemed as though he had way too much to drink before taking the stage.
He actually began by slurring the words, “That’s the weirdest microphone I’ve ever seen in my life.” And just like that, he was everybody’s uncle at Thanksgiving.
Some presenters take jokes a bit too far and it's safe to say that not all of Chris Rock's landed at the 2022 Oscars. After making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head, saying that he can't wait to catch her in G.I. Jane 2, it didn't go well with the crowd or her husband Will Smith.
Smith bombarded the stage and slapped Rock. The comedian said it best, "Will Smith just smacked the "s--t" out of me," to which Smith yelled twice, "Keep my wife's name out of your f--king mouth." We couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
We still can’t get over this awkward moment from the 2013 MTV Movie Awards. Will Ferrell was accepting his much-deserved award for Comedic Genius, when Parks and Rec’s Aubrey Plaza suddenly marched onto the stage. She actually tried to wrestle the award away from a very confused Will, who tried to make it look as though it was a rehearsed bit, but with no luck.
Reportedly, the actress’ strange meltdown followed a night of drinking a bit too much – she even dropped her drink on the way back to her seat, before she was unceremoniously kicked out. It was hard to look away.
Ryan Seacrest apparently has his own clothing line, and he definitely used every opportunity he had this year to wear it on award show red carpets. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but some viewers couldn’t help but notice that he’s also been promoting his suit line on live TV.
After the Oscars this year, there were quite a lot of tweets mentioning his shameless self plug, especially after he let everyone know his collection is on sale at Macy’s. We guess he’s been in the entertainment business for so long, he can pretty much get away with everything.
Cardi B’s relationship with fellow rapper Offset has been a bumpy one since the very beginning. After a very public split, the two showed up at this year’s Grammy Awards together, setting all reconciliation rumors to rest.
Not only did they pack on the PDA on the red carpet, but Offset actually got on stage together with Cardi when she won Best Rap Album. Her fans couldn’t get over how this decision to get on stage with her was in poor taste.
