An annual awards show offers a chance for celebrities to promote themselves and get
congratulated for a job well done.
All they have to do is stand there, look pretty, and say thanks when another pretty person
hands them a trophy, or as they hand a trophy to somebody else.
Sometimes, that's apparently too much to handle, and a few stars have cracked under the pressure
and made fools of themselves while the world watched on TV.
Here are some of the biggest awards show fails of all time.
Sam Smith
He may have a comically generic name, but Sam Smith is also an Oscar winner, having
won Best Original Song for "Writing's on the Wall" from the 2015 James Bond film Spectre.
However, Smith's acceptance speech may forever overshadow the song's critical and commercial
success.
During the speech, the openly gay Smith dedicated his win to the LGBTQ community, saying,
"I read an article a few months ago by Sir Ian McKellen, and he said that no openly gay
man had ever won an Oscar."
Smith's message is inspiring, even if his pretense was faulty.
The article he referenced featured Ian McKellen lamenting how no openly gay man had ever specifically
won the Best Actor Oscar.
Whoops.
Other gay men actually have won Hollywood's biggest prize, such as Elton John for Best
Original Song and Dustin Lance Black for Original Screenplay.
Smith soon tweeted an apology,
"Second openly gay man to win an oscar or third or fourth or 100th, It wasn't my point."
Faith Hill
As a country superstar for more than a decade, Faith Hill seemed like a lock to win Female
Vocalist of the Year at the 2006 Country Music Association Awards.
She'd had a big year, with the #1 album Fireflies and smash hits like "Sunshine and Summertime."
Her only major competition in the category was recent American Idol winner Carrie Underwood.
When presenter Miley Cyrus announced Underwood as the winner, Hill reacted a little less
than graciously.
"Carrie Underwood!"
It seemed like Hill embodied some bad combination of diva and sore loser, but in the aftermath,
she and her team tried desperately to wash off the stench of negativity.
In a statement, Hill said,
"The idea that I would act disrespectful towards a fellow musician is unimaginable to me."
Kanye West
At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the video for Taylor Swift's country song "You Belong
With Me" won Best Female Video, beating out memorable clips by pop juggernauts, including
Beyoncé's "Single Ladies."
Swift, mouth agape in genuine surprise, took the stage to collect her Moonman.
But halfway through her speech, Kanye West famously rushed the stage, took Swift's mic,
and opined,
"Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the
best videos of all time!"
The cameras then cut to Beyoncé in the audience, looking quite embarrassed.
Then West shrugged, handing the mic back to a shocked and defeated-looking Swift, and
left.
Now that's just rude.
Miguel
One of the big draws of the 2013 Billboard Music Awards was R&B singer Miguel, who was
there to perform his huge hit "Adorn."
At one point, the crooner got so into the music, that he decided to jump from the main
stage to a small side stage, which sat on the other side of a pit with a small group
of lucky fans.
But Miguel misjudged the distance, and then this happened:
Miguel continued with the song, sitting down for a while but seemingly no worse for the
wear.
After the show, Miguel met up with the woman he landed on, and tweeted his relief that
she was okay.
"Ok, he's gonna make up for it?"
"I don't wanna speak for Miguel."
"Absolutely."
Warren Beatty
At the 2017 Academy Awards, Moonlight's Best Picture award was accidentally presented to
La La Land.
It's the biggest goof in Oscars history, and one that will be talked about for years.
In a scene that seems right out of a movie, Warren Beatty opened the sealed envelope,
but then paused, seemingly confused.
[Confused silence]
Beatty then passed the envelope to Faye Dunaway, who swiftly looked down and announced La La
Land as the winner.
As that film's producers gave their speeches, show staffers rushed in and confusion ensued.
Finally, La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz approached the mic.
"There's a mistake.
Moonlight, you guys won best picture.
This is not a joke."
"Moonlight: Best Picture."
So what happened?
One of the PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants gave Beatty a "Best Actress" envelope in error.
It read "Emma Stone, La La Land" in full, but Dunaway had just seen the movie title
and rolled with it.
"I opened the envelope, andit said, 'Emma Stone, La La LAnd.'
That's why I took such a long look."
John Travolta
At the 2014 Academy Awards, John Travolta was there to introduce Idina Menzel, who was
there to belt out "Let it Go" from Frozen, which would go on to win Best Original Song.
When Travolta was supposed to just say "Idina Menzel" and get out of the way, he didn't.
Somehow, he said this instead:
"Please welcome the wickedly talented, one and only, Adele Dazeem."
A year later, Travolta explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live! how he so spectacularly messed
up a task as easy as reading off of a teleprompter.
"They said, 'Oh, by the way, we've changed Idina's name to a phonetic spelling.'
What do you mean?
Go!"