15 Most Cringeworthy Awards Moments
Every year we wait anxiously as the Academy Awards roll around, we are mesmerized by the beautiful gowns, and every actor and actress are dressed to the nines, we obsess over the incredible nominations.
This Sunday, February 26th marked the 89th Academy Awards show and some of us may be binge watching every many hours' worth of Hollywood's Oscar ceremonies, we crave to experience some of the best highlights from previous award shows. Some of the craziest, spectacular, possibly awkward moments that ever occurred during the Oscars.
There are decades of some of the most incredible Academy Awards moments, if you are a fan of films and pretty much mark your calendar every year for this moment-- if you scroll through all the wonderful nominations, praying for your favorites to win, then you may be interested in taking a look back at some of the craziest most memorable moments of the Academy Awards-- here are 15 just for you:
15 And The Award Goes To Frank… Frank Who?
Some of you may not know this but back in 1934, at the 6th Academy Awards show the host who happened to be Will Rogers presented the award for Best-Director-- he presented it by saying "Come up and get it, Frank!", only there were two Franks nominated for that award-- Frank Capra (director of Lady for a Day) and Frank Lloyd (director of Cavalcade). The most embarrassing moment ever-- for just as director Frank Capra excitedly reached the stage before the realization hit him that he actually did not win. In a memoir, he wrote about the return back to his seat, how it was "the longest, saddest, most shattering walk in my life." Poor Capra. Could you imagine that happening and so many people in the audience as well as watching on television? Too bad there weren't any gifs back then-- could you imagine what people would have come up with?
14 David Niven And The Streaker
If you plan on making a big statement and crashing the Oscars, then you might as well make it one that counts-- and is shown to millions of people watching on television. At the Academy Awards back in 1974, Robert Opel-- a gay-rights activist decided he wanted to steal the spotlight from Elizabeth Taylor, as he managed to run across the stage nude while the host David Niven was introducing her. Minor moment where Niven thought the audience may have been screaming for him or even Taylor but when he soon realized that they weren't cheering for him nor-- Taylor, he acknowledged the fleeting moment with a witty remark, "Isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcoming?" While years later, some still joke about this moment-- it has to be on the list of the craziest moment at the Oscars.
13 Being Speechless
When standing in front of millions of people, it must be nerve-wracking and definitely not an easy feat-- that being said, Melissa Leo (The Fighter), must have been so nervous and completely overwhelmed by her award back in 2011 on Supporting Actress that she completely forgot what she wanted to say and became totally speechless. Which instead of graciously accepting the award with a "thank you" or something-- she ended up marveling over a speech from a previous winner Kate Winslet. Once backstage, Leo realized how embarrassing her speech ended up being that she apologized stating "Those words-I apologize to anyone if they were offended," she said. "There's a great deal of the English language that is in my vernacular." Considering her speech ended up commenting how Kate Winslet made it look easy-- as we could only imagine, being on stage can be a bit intimidating. Sometimes, under pressure-- our brains don't always think as fast and the words that roll off our tongues often don't make sense or worse have zero filter. Clearly, that is what happened to Leo, luckily she caught on, even if it was after the speech was already made-- good thing she apologized.
12 J-Law Takes A Tumble
What is more embarrassing than falling-- is falling while walking up the stairs at the Oscars to accept an award. Poor Jennifer Lawrence, it was her big moment and she made an even BIGGER moment-- but unfortunately, it wasn't the greatest moment. As she graciously started to walk up the stairs, she managed to trip and fall in front of EVERYONE-- and it wasn't just a small group of people-- this is the Oscars after all! J-Law falls in front of millions of viewers as if walking on stage isn't nerve-wracking enough. It was the 2013 Academy Awards ceremony, where Jennifer graciously and literally fell into the hearts of America-- as she tripped walking up the stairs to accept her award. This is a big night for many stars but to fall in front of all the viewers must be embarrassing and a moment no one will ever forget. As many gifs and memes were created after that special moment.
11 Adrien Brody Gets A Little PDA AKA Handsy With The Presenter
Sometimes, when winning an award-- it can be a very emotional moment and often you may do something you wouldn't normally do or perhaps you really want to be affectionate towards a loved one. That's what Adrien Brody did when he won Best Actor for his role in The Piano, except for it was not a loved one per say but rather a stranger-- or shall we say the presenter of the award miss Halle Berry. Granted, we do not blame Brody for smooching the very beautiful Berry but still, it was definitely a crazy moment and one that shocked many viewers. Not saying it is appropriate to kiss strangers-- as we do not condone such a thing. But you can only imagine what Brody must have been feeling with all the bright lights surrounding him-- love was definitely in the air and bending the rules every now and then never hurt anybody. Plus if you look at Halle's smile afterward, it is safe to say the Brody and the kiss is all forgiven.
10 Who Is Adele Dazeem?
As Frozen swept the nation and fans all over were obsessed with not only the film but the music-- it seems that "Danny Zuko" Grease, Mr. Travolta must have slept through all the Frozen frenzy. And leading up to the annual academy awards 2014 Oscars, he did not have a clue what-so-ever of who Idina Menzel was-- which of course led to a very embarrassing moment. While Travolta was attempting to present the award to the lovely yet talented Menzel and call her up on stage, he somehow managed to jumble up the vowels and consonants in a way that no one will ever forget. In a fleeting moment, Travolta somehow turned Idina Menzel into Adele Dazeem-- talk about botching someone's name. Poor Travolta-- I guess his nerves got in the way and as for the audience and millions of viewers watching-- do we daresay we got "chills they were multiplying" from this slight oops moment.
9 When "The Godfather" Turned Down An Oscar
Never in the history of the Academy Awards would you think that anyone who was nominated who ended up winning the award for that specific nomination would decide to turn down the award? But the "God Father" clearly surprised many of the millions of viewers when he refused to accept his award. It was in 1973 that Marlon Brando who played the role of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather managed to win the award which was such a surreal moment in the history of Oscars. But leave it to Brando to make a big scene when he decided to boycott the ceremony, and instead of accepting or not accepting the award himself, he sent up Sacheen Littlefeather to decline the award in Brando's honor. Although this was a very shocking moment, as many stars dream of winning an Oscar, but Brando was very polite about the moment and explained-- via Littlefeather, that he "very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry. Thank you on behalf of Marlon Brando." Talk about a shocking moment for Oscar History!
8 Scolding At The Oscars
Oscars can be a very emotional and hectic time for many reasons and sometimes your acceptance speech isn't always the greatest as the moment you win you become speechless or perhaps all filter goes out the window-- that's what happened to Julia Roberts. It happens more often than we think-- especially when Oscar winners feel the need to scold the Orchestra conductor generally after they begin to play off stage. But it was at the Academy Awards in 2001, Julia Roberts won for her role in Erin Brokovich but during her acceptance speech, she preemptively scolded the Orchestra conductor not to rain on her parade. She said, "Sir, you're doing a great job, but you're so quick with that stick. So why don't you sit, because I may never be here again." Talk about a major power move-- clearly, Roberts isn't afraid to speak her mind and that award she most certainly deserved.
7 Roberto Benigni Jumps On A Chair
Lots of crazy and memorable things happen each year at the Oscars and sometimes when you win an award you get so excited that you hardly can contain your excitement-- Robert Benigni literally jumped for joy when he won best-foreign-film. In 1999, at the Academy Awards the Italian actor-director, Robert Benigni, was turning heads when he took a different approach on the ever-so staid ceremony and instead he decided to leap onto his chair at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and walked across chairs in front of him just to accept his award for best-foreign-film for the film Life Is Beautiful. When he finally reached the stage he was just so excited, in his speech he said, "This is the moment of joy, and I want to kiss everybody because you are the major of the joy, and he who kisses the joy as it flies lives in eternity's sunrise, say the poet." Life is truly beautiful especially in this moment for Benigni.
6 Cher's Fashion Mohawk
While the Oscars are all about film, there are also some crazy fashion moments that go down on the red carpet. I believe it is safe to say that no one could possibly do fashion at the Academy Awards quite like Cher. Even til this day, the amazing singer refers to her Oscars 1986 look as "the mohawk year." Perhaps there should be an award for that-- craziest, fashion moment ever award. While Cher was presenting the award for Best Supporting Actor-- it seemed her mohawk and overall outfit stole the limelight, she happened to be wearing a very memorable Bob Mackie dress and believe us, this dress is supposed to make some sort of statement which obviously it did its part very well. Plus the Mohawk really took it to a whole other level. While viewers get excited over the nominations, some viewers get excited about the fashion-- and Cher clearly knows how to make a statement. Leave it to share to steal the spotlight!
5 "You Like Me" Speech
While some stars get emotional, others take it to another level-- perhaps screaming the words "you like me" is that next level. During the Oscars 1985, Sally Fields won the best-actress award for her role in the film Places in the Heart-- while it has been three decades later, her acceptance speech has been misquoted and parodied over and over. Fields was just so overwhelmed with joy and surprise that all she could think to say was "You like me, you really like me"-- as if winning the award is the main reason for so many liking her. Her talent clearly showed and she deserved the award. The funny thing is about all these gifs is that that was not her full speech as Sally Fields actually said, "I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me." It seems the million viewers thought it was funnier to butcher her speech and create memes and gifs out of this Oscar moment.
4 Alfred Hitchcock's Acceptance Speech
Could you imagine if memes and gifs had been invented back in the 60s how all these moments could be replayed over and over for all the viewers' entertainment? And the more I think about it, there could have been so many memes and gifs created if only Alfred Hitchcock's two-words acceptance speech was created four decades later. For those who have not seen or heard about the speech, basically at the 1968 Academy Awards-- it took Alfred Hitchcock about 20 seconds to make his way across the stage in order to accept the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award and it took him about six seconds to offer his simple yet slightly chilly acceptance speech with saying these two words "thank you" but then he paused and followed with a "very much indeed"-- except for the mic must have cut out at that moment because viewers only heard him say "thank you."
3 First Tie In History
Did you know that on April 14th, 1969 during the 41st Academy Awards ceremony something magnificent happened? It was the first time in history that there happened to be a tie for Best-Actress. While it has happened quite often at the Oscars, this was one that was notable. It was when Katherine Hepburn and Barbara Streisand had to split the Best-Actress category for their individual roles in Funny Girl and The Lion in the Winter-- this marked the first exact tie in Oscar history. Streisand happened to be the only one attending the ceremony in order to claim her award-- and perhaps, steal the show. She decided in her acceptance speech to reiterate her famous first line in Funny Girl where she decides to lay her eyes on the little gold man saying "Hello, Gorgeous!" Not many people think it is possible to have a tie-- and generally, no one wants to really share the spotlight. Still, it was quite an honor and in some ways, it worked out for Streisand with Hepburn not being there.
2 Angelina Jolie Keeps It All In The Family
As we once mentioned before, the Oscars can be a very emotional time and stars are bound to react or do things they generally would not do-- some even take it as far as kissing their family members and not in the way most people would believe to be appropriate. And in some families-- let's take Game Of Thrones-- The Lannisters for instance, it is totally acceptable to give your siblings a passionate kiss on the lips. Take Angelina Jolie for instance, she is already pretty out there in general, an incredible actress-- as she won the supporting actress award for her performance in the film Girl, Interrupted. While everyone felt she deserved the award, Jolie raised some major eyebrows at the Academy Awards back in 2000 when she displayed her love and affection for her brother James Haven. During Jolie's acceptance speech she let the world know her love for her brother, "I'm in shock. And I'm just so in love with my brother right now." And then, later on, a photo was taken of the two kissing-- which they explained that the kiss was completely "misinterpreted."
1 First Female Director
While it isn't a crazy moment nor is it awkward it is definitely memorable. For the filmmaker, Kathryn Bigelow-- she was the fourth woman to be nominated for Best-director during the Academy Awards. Her film, Hurt Locker-- Bigelow definitely made Oscar history back in 2010, when she became the very first female to win such category. Not to mention, as we can imagine-- she is the first director to beat out an Ex-- talk about a double win! She topped her ex-husband James Cameron for Avatar. Bigelow was definitely making history. Surprisingly, her ex-husband happened to be the first to congratulate her as he tapped her shoulder and Bigelow confessed about the award being a "moment of a lifetime" and went on to dedicate her Oscar to the servicemen and women in Iraq and Afganistan. Talk about a proud and memorable moment! Still, like most moments at the Oscars there will be people who joke around about certain moments-- it was a few years later that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler decided to joke around about the rivalry between Bigelow and her Ex Cameron, during the Golden Globes, as they said "When it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron." Still, a memorable moment but also one that some find humor in.