Awkward Oscars Moments That Were Caught On Camera

Awards shows are always entertaining to watch — not simply because they recognize some of the entertainment industry's greatest talents, but because they're aired live, meaning pretty much anything can happen. Sure, they're meticulously planned. Camera operators are trained to cut away from anything too scandalous, and censors are typically on deck, but that doesn't mean these ceremonies are totally foolproof. There's always the potential for things to go wrong — and plenty of things have gone wrong at the Academy Awards.

Over the years, Oscars audiences, both in person and at home, have witnessed practical jokes, embarrassing mix-ups, strange speeches, and countless other eyebrow-raising incidents. Some of these episodes are amusing or endearing to look back on, while others still come across as cringeworthy and, at times, even offensive.

Let's take a trip down memory lane and visit some of the most awkward moments to ever go down at the Oscars.

It's always a pleasure to see how Oscar winners respond to hearing their names called. Some cry, some laugh, some scream... and then there's Roberto Benigni. At the 71st Academy Awards show in 1999, Sophia Loren announced that the Italian filmmaker had won the Foreign Language Film award for "Life Is Beautiful" (which he wrote, directed, and starred in). And he had quite the reaction. Without missing a beat, he stood up in his chair and began walking across the seats in the audience, waving his arms like a circus acrobat and occasionally holding onto actors' heads for balance. When he reached the stage, he ascended the stairs by hopping like a frog.

Thankfully, nobody in the audience seemed too stuffy about the stunt. Most people laughed and cheered, happy to share in his joy — as they should have been. Let the man crowdsurf if he wants — he just won one of the biggest awards in cinema.

Filmmaker Michael Moore is no stranger to controversy. His documentary "Bowling for Columbine" dared to dissect the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, taking the stance that gun control is crucial to improving school safety. When he was called up to accept the Documentary Feature award for the film, he used the opportunity to make another political statement, this time speaking about George W. Bush's presidency.

After thanking the Academy and shouting out his fellow nominees, whom he invited onstage with him, he began his bold remarks. "[The other nominees] are here in solidarity with me because we like nonfiction ... and we live in fictitious times. We live in a time where we have fictitious election results," he declared, referring to the hotly debated 2000 election between Bush and Al Gore. He went on to criticize the Iraq War: "We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. ... We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you."

Some members of the audience cheered him on; others erupted in a chorus of boos. Toward the end of his speech, the orchestra began to play, shooing him offstage. Despite the tension in the room, Moore kept his head held high as he made his exit.

In 2014 — in the wake of the frenzy surrounding Disney's "Frozen" — Idina Menzel was asked to sing "Let It Go," her character Elsa's theme song, onstage at the Oscars. John Travolta was tasked with introducing her, but when the time came, he butchered the pronunciation and introduced her as "Adele Dazeem." Although the Broadway star killed her performance, fans were left scratching their heads long after the applause had died down.

During an interview with "Today" in 2021, Menzel looked back on the historic moment, giving viewers some long-awaited insight into her reaction. At first, she was frustrated, "I'm finally here and this guy screwed up my name," she thought. Nevertheless, she cheered herself up with some positive self-talk: "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Get your s**t together, you know? You gotta get ready to sing this note." Ultimately, in a bizarre twist of fate, she ended up feeling grateful for the mix-up. "It ended up being one of the best things that happened for my career because all the people that had no idea who I was were like... 'Who is this girl?'" she said.

In a 2015 appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," John Travolta good-naturedly shared his side of the story. Apparently, the card he was handed featured a phonetic spelling of Menzel's name. The gesture was intended to help Travolta, but it only served to confuse him when he looked down and saw a series of letters that he was totally unfamiliar with.

Just two years after Steve Harvey announced the wrong winner for the Miss Universe pageant, a similar mix-up happened at the 2017 Oscars. Presenter Warren Beatty seemed hesitant to read out the Academy Award winner for Best Picture, looking down at his cue card confusedly. Co-presenter Faye Dunaway, thinking he was being silly, said, "You're impossible!" before announcing "La La Land" as the winner. The cast and crew made their way to the stage as the narrator began to list out the film's many accolades.  

Producers Jordan Horowitz, Marc Platt, and Fred Berger delivered heartfelt speeches — but near the end of Berger's speech, an intense discussion began to take place behind him. Berger turned to Beatty for a moment before facing the crowd again and announcing, "We lost, by the way." Horowitz stepped forward to manage the ensuing confusion. "There's a mistake. 'Moonlight,' you guys won Best Picture. This is not a joke," he said. He then showed a card to the camera, which featured the names of "Moonlight" producers Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner. Horowitz graciously shared his congratulations as the "Moonlight" team arrived onstage for their special moment.

So what happened? The slip-up wasn't Beatty's fault — it turns out that he had mistakenly been handed an envelope naming Emma Stone as the recipient of the Best Actress award for her role in "La La Land." PwC, the accounting firm in charge of verifying the results that year, released an apology after the ceremony.

Let's just say 2017 was an awkward year for the Oscars. At one point during the ceremony, the camera cut to Nicole Kidman as she clapped her hands in a bizarre fashion, bumping the palms of her hands against each other while keeping her fingers from touching. That wasn't all — she was later captured pretending to clap altogether, her hands never making contact.

Kidman later offered an explanation during an interview with Australian KIIS FM hosts Kyle and Jackie O — she had been trying to prevent damage to the jewelry she was wearing, most notably a giant diamond ring on loan from Harry Winston. "It was really awkward. I was like, 'Gosh, I want to clap. I don't want to not be clapping' — which would be worse, right?" she said (via CBS News). "So therefore I'm clapping but, it was really difficult because I had a huge ring on that was not my own ... it was absolutely gorgeous and I was terrified of damaging it," she clarified.

Dare we say this is the most awkward Oscar moment of all time? In case you somehow missed it, here's a recap. While presenting the Documentary Feature Oscar, Chris Rock cracked a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head (which is due to her having alopecia), suggesting that she should play G.I. Jane in a hypothetical sequel. Moments later, Smith ascended the stage, slapped Rock hard across the face, and returned to his seat. Stunned, Rock said, "Will Smith just slapped the s**t out of me."

From the audience, Smith shouted, "Keep my wife's name out your f**king mouth!" Following the incident, Smith released a statement via Instagram, in which he labeled his own behavior "unacceptable and inexcusable." He also resigned from the Academy. A week later, the Academy banned him from attending future events for the next decade.

Pinkett Smith addressed the slap for the first time about two months later. During an episode of her show, "Red Table Talk," she took a diplomatic approach to the conflict. "My deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out, and reconcile," she said.

In July, Smith apologized once more in a YouTube video titled "It's Been a Minute." "I've reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he's not ready to talk, and when he is, he will reach out," he said. "So I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you."