Cher’s Grammy Flub Joins a Pantheon of Award-Show Gaffes
“I don’t do this part very well,” the singer said, just before she seemed to award a Grammy to Luther Vandross, who died in 2005. Plenty of celebrities have made similar goofs.
When Cher took the stage late in the Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday night, the show had largely proceeded without a hitch. Alex Warren had a few technical difficulties during his performance of “Ordinary,” and the TV censors missed an expletive during a speech by Lola Young. But overall, the night had felt effortless. Cher, 79, said, “I don’t do this part very well,” appearing to be referring to speaking rather than singing in front of an audience. “I mean, put a microphone in my hand and have some music — I’m great.”
She seemed to know what was going to happen. When she left the stage prematurely, only to return to seemingly bestow the award for record of the year on a singer who had died more than two decades ago, she joined a group of celebrity presenters whose distinguished résumés now include an award-show gaffe.
Cher, who had not been on a Grammys stage in 18 years, was actually there on Sunday for two purposes: to present record of the year and to accept a lifetime achievement award.
“I guess I’m supposed to walk off now,” she said after receiving her award. However, she wasn’t. Trevor Noah, the ceremony’s host, hurried to keep Cher around. “Could we get you to announce the nominees before you leave?” Cher dutifully made her way back to the microphone, where she eventually opened the record of the year envelope before pausing awkwardly. “They told me it was going to be on the prompter,” she said, waving a hand in the air.
Finally, the winner came: “Oh, the Grammy goes to Luther Gandross!” Cher said, flubbing the name of Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s lovelorn duet “Luther,” as well as, it appeared, that of the great R&B singer who inspired it: Luther Vandross, who died in 2005.
She quickly realized what she had done wrong and announced the winners. SZA later showed Cher some grace in an interview with “Entertainment Tonight.” “She’s not wrong,” SZA said, adding: “She probably really knew Luther Vandross. Naturally, her energy and brain are connecting that energy to the energy we’re sharing. Either way, the moment felt destined to join a running list of awards ceremony mishaps.
John Travolta famously butchered the pronunciation of Idina Menzel’s name at the 2014 Academy Awards, calling the Tony Award winner and “Frozen” star “Adele Dazeem.” (In a subsequent apology, he stated that after beating himself up over the mistake, he decided to act in the manner of Menzel: “Let it go, let it go.”) Menzel jokingly introduced Travolta as “Glom Gazingo” at the Oscars the following year.
There have been other noteworthy moments of confusion. Steve Harvey accidentally disqualified Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach when he announced Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutiérrez Arévalo, as the contest’s winner at the 2015 Miss Universe pageant. “This was a terribly honest human mistake and I am so regretful,” Harvey said on social media. (The mistake was quickly corrected.)
Al Pacino appeared to confuse approximately 20 million Americans in 2024 when he went straight for the envelope instead of announcing the 10 best picture nominees at the Oscars. He said, “And my eyes see Oppenheimer,” to which the audience responded with mumbles and then cheers.
Was he just making predictions, or did Christopher Nolan and company take home the top prize in the film industry? The customary “And the Oscar goes to…” surely would have been helpful. In a statement after the ceremony, Pacino said of having skipped reciting the names of the best picture nominees: “I just want to be clear it was not my intention to omit them, rather a choice by the producers not to have them said again since they were highlighted individually throughout the ceremony.”
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway’s announcement of the wrong best picture winner at the 2017 Oscars was without a doubt the biggest awards show error in recent memory. The error was discovered as the crew of “La La Land” began to revel in their victory. Jordan Horowitz, a producer for “La La Land,” charged to the microphone. He said, “You guys, I’m sorry, no.” “There’s a mistake. ‘Moonlight,’ you guys won best picture.” The crowd gasped. The moment led PwC, the accounting firm that tabulates Oscar votes for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to adopt new rules.
According to the findings of an investigation, one of the two PwC representatives who were present at the Oscars had mistakenly given Beatty the envelope for best picture instead of the one for best actress, which had been given to Emma Stone for, yes, “La La Land.” However, despite the fact that these errors can lead to confusion, regret, and even a bitter, if unjustified, sense of defeat, they can also, ironically, inspire joy. Leon Thomas, the R&B singer who won two Grammys Sunday night, said that Cher’s mistake was “actually probably one of my favorite moments of the night” in an interview with “Entertainment Tonight.”
