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Top 20 Most Awkward Award Show Moments Ever

Top 20 Most Awkward Award Show Moments Ever
VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton WRITTEN BY: Mimi Kenny & Nick Spake
These award show moments all win for excellence in awkwardness. Our countdown includes Adele Dazeem, Madonna's wardrobe malfunction, Judy Finnigan's bra, and more!

Top 20 Awkward Award Show Moments


Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 20 Awkward Award Show Moments.

For this list, we’ll be looking at the cringiest and most uncomfortable things to happen at televised award shows.

What are the most awkward award show moments you’ve seen? Let us know in the comments!

#20: Ian Somerhalder Kisses Ariana Grande
“16th Teen Choice Awards” (2014)


“Lost” and “Vampire Diaries” actor Ian Somerhalder is viewed by many as a heartthrob, but Ariana Grande might not be so smitten. When presenting the pop star with the Choice Female Artist award at the “2014 Teen Choice Awards”, Somerhalder gave her a kiss on the cheek, and it struck viewers as a little funny-looking. Some thought that he was going for Grande’s lips, while others believed it only appeared clumsy because he was going for her left cheek but had to switch to the right one at the last second. Awkward as it might have appeared, it only lasted for a few seconds, and Grande gave a very grateful speech upon receiving her new surfboard.

#19: Leonardo DiCaprio & Lady Gaga
“73rd Golden Globe Awards” (2016)


If Leonardo DiCaprio has a new movie out, you can most-certainly count on his award show appearances. In 2016, the same year he won a Best Actor Golden Globe, plenty of attention was placed on his interaction with Lady Gaga, who won her own Golden Globe for her role on "American Horror Story: Hotel". While walking up to the stage, Gaga made brief physical contact with the eventual Oscar winner. He quickly jerks his arm back and, for the briefest moment, shoots her a bit of a funny look. Speaking with "Entertainment Tonight", DiCaprio later clarified that he was just surprised by the sudden contact. To be fair to Gaga, the Golden Globes seating arrangements do look awfully crowded.

#18: Judy Finnigan’s Bra
“7th National Television Awards” (2001)


Wardrobe malfunctions didn’t start with the Super Bowl. At Britain’s “7th National Television Awards”, television presenter Judy Finnigan experienced something very embarrassing at what should have been one of the best moments of her life. Upon accepting the award for Most Popular Daytime Programme with her husband, Richard Madeley, the top of Finnigan’s dress popped open up...and stayed open, exposing her white bra. The audience was in hysterics, and Madeley thought it was because they wanted him to do his Ali G impression. It's not until someone runs on stage to fix Finnigan up that she appears to realize what's going on. She got an award, and the viewers got a moment they’d never forget.

#17: Taylor Swift Doesn’t Win Album of the Year
“56th Annual Grammy Awards” (2014)


So far, Taylor Swift has won the Grammy for Album of the Year three times, but in 2014, her album “Red” was beaten out by French electronic duo Daft Punk’s final album, “Random Access Memories”. As the winner is announced, Swift’s jaw drops and her team looks positively energized by the news. That is, until the full title is read and, well, it’s not “Red”. To her credit, Swift recovers quite well from the momentary confusion, clapping and giving the winners a standing ovation. We’re just glad this wasn’t a “Zoolander” moment.

#16: Nicole Kidman Seal-Claps
“89th Academy Awards” (2017)


There’s nothing weird about clapping at an awards show. However, there was something weird about how Nicole Kidman was clapping at the 2017 Oscars. The one-time Best Actress winner, nominated for Best Supporting Actress at that year’s ceremony, clapped in a way that might be more appropriate for Sea World than the Oscars. Kidman later explained it was to protect the expensive jewelry she was wearing, which included 119 carats in diamonds. Some might feel they have to choose between looking glamorous and looking congratulatory. Kidman went for both, and we appreciate her willingness to look a little silly.

#15: Joe Jonas Cuts His Hand
“35th Annual American Music Awards” (2007)


Some award show moments hurt to watch because they’re so embarrassing. This one hurts to watch because it involves actual physical pain. When the Jonas Brothers kicked off their performance of “S.O.S.” at the 2007 American Music Awards, glass panels shattered right before they walked down the stage. Joe, in the middle, took a bit of a tumble, falling on the broken glass. But he didn’t let pain get in the way of performing. To reference “S.O.S.”, you better believe Joe bled. According to the singer, he didn’t even realize how bad he was bleeding until he got backstage. The Jonas Brothers’ cool factor definitely went up with this moment, even if the tumble was a little awkward.

#14: Cate Blanchett Strokes Her SAG
“20th Screen Actors Guild Awards” (2014)


When Cate Blanchett won the SAG Award for Best Actress for her performance in “Blue Jasmine”, she was visibly excited. She even got a little feisty when fighting for as much speaking time as earlier award winner, Matthew McConaughey. But it was what she did, not what she said, that garnered the most attention. During her speech, there’s a brief moment where Blanchett rapidly strokes her award up and down while breathing loudly. She later won the same award at the Academy Awards two months later, and it was another memorable speech. Thankfully, there was no stroking to be seen during that one.

#13: Jacqueline Bisset’s Acceptance Speech
“71st Golden Globe Awards” (2014)


It’s not uncommon for people to become emotional during award shows, but Jacqueline Bisset had an especially hard time collecting herself when she won a Golden Globe for her supporting performance in “Dancing on the Edge.” After a lengthy walk to the stage, the English actress struggled to find the right words before finally unleashing a meandering speech. It wasn’t long until the music started to play her off, but that didn’t stop Bisset from thanking several others and dropping a couple curse words. Bisset made several more rambling remarks backstage, asking somebody to clean her glasses. While undeniably awkward, we can’t blame Bisset for feeling so overwhelmed, as she really wasn’t expecting to win.

#12: Katy Perry Falls
“7th Annual Premios MTV Latinoamérica” (2008)


Falling once is embarrassing, but it's easy enough to recover from. Two or three times is a little more difficult, but four times? That's what happened to Katy Perry at the Latin America iteration of the VMAs. When her performance of "I Kissed A Girl" concluded, Perry belly-flopped into a huge pink cake and started throwing it into the crowd. Then, after playfully tossing some cake on her guitarist, Perry slipped four times on the icing, getting up and falling down again and again, albeit grinning the whole way through. By the end, she seemed to just give up and crawl instead. All this to say that a successful award show performance isn’t always “a piece of cake”.

#11: Ricky Gervais Mocks “The Tourist”
“68th Golden Globe Awards” (2011)


If you hire Ricky Gervais to host your award show, you’re going to get some pretty sharp remarks. During his monologue at the 68th Golden Globe Awards, the comedian snarked about “The Tourist”, a critically panned thriller starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, that somehow received three Golden Globe nominations. Gervais not-so-subtly implied it only received the nominations out of star power and voter bribery. His jokes were met with either muted reactions or surprised laughter - there was really no in-between. (Tough room at the Golden Globes, apparently!) “The Tourist” went home empty-handed, but Gervais and his rabble-rousing style returned to host the Golden Globes three more times.

#10: Morgan Freeman’s Acceptance Speech
“24th Screen Actors Guild Awards” (2018)


Morgan Freeman more than earned his Life Achievement Award at the 2018 SAG Awards. However, his acceptance speech was easily among the goofiest moments of his career – and remember… this man once played a vampire on “The Electric Company.” Speaking of which, Freeman’s old co-star, Rita Moreno, presented him with this award. Along the way, she shared several hilarious anecdotes and told Freeman to lift up his baseball cap. Matters took a particularly mystifying turn when Freeman randomly called out somebody in the audience, who was later confirmed to be Lily Tomlin. As odd as this detour was, Freeman closed out his speech with some timely commentary, calling the statue “gender specific.”

#9: Miguel Meets an Audience Member
“20th Billboard Music Awards” (2013)


R&B singer Miguel makes the perfect music for intimate moments, but not the kind that happened at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards. While performing his hit song "Adorn", Miguel leapt over the crowd onto a different part of the stage. However, it wasn't a smooth landing, as he landed crotch-first into an audience member's face, also hitting her with his leg. She appears to brush off the incident alright, and Miguel keeps on singing. He perfectly demonstrates that, as long as you play it cool, it doesn't have to be awkward. But, hopefully, he practiced his on-stage acrobatics after this.

#8: Madonna’s Wardrobe Malfunction
“35th BRIT Awards” (2015)


Madonna is no stranger to awkward award show moments, notoriously smooching Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 VMAs. She’s also made plenty of headlines with her bold fashion choices. At the 2015 Brit Awards, though, Madonna learned the hard way that capes almost always backfire. When her dancers attempted to yank off the cape as planned, Madonna realized that it was tied too tight. The Queen of Pop was thus sent flying down the stairs, much to everyone’s shock. Nevertheless, Madonna managed to pull herself together and complete the performance. In a way, it’s fitting that she was singing “Living For Love,” as the song is all about lifting one’s self back up.

#7: James Franco Silences Tommy Wiseau
“75th Golden Globe Awards” (2018)


Tommy Wiseau supposedly kept “The Room” running for two extra weeks to qualify for Academy Award consideration. Needless to say, his cult classic received no love from the Oscars. About a decade and a half later, though, Wiseau got to attend the Golden Globes when “The Disaster Artist” picked up multiple nominations. After James Franco won the award for his portrayal of Wiseau, he kindly invited him to come up onstage. As Wiseau tried grabbing the microphone, Franco playfully pushed him aside. Franco probably wanted to avoid an awkward moment, but silencing Wiseau was ironically awkward in itself. Had he gotten to speak, Wiseau claims that he would’ve encouraged people to love each other.

#6: Ronnie Wood Throws His Drink at Brandon Block
“20th BRIT Awards” (2000)


At the 2000 Brit Awards, actress Thora Birch and Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones presented the prize for Best Soundtrack Album. Before they could announce that the winner was “Notting Hill,” an intoxicated Brandon Block suddenly ambushed them. Although the DJ wasn’t up for any awards, his friends reportedly told him that he had won “Best Musician of the Year.” As Block screamed his name into the mic, security attempted to escort him off the stage. When Block came charging back, Wood threw his drink in his face and the two exchanged insults. Block was subsequently thrown out of the ceremony, leaving the bewildered audience wondering what the hell had just happened.

#5: Michael Jackson’s Birthday Award
“19th MTV Video Music Awards” (2002)


To commemorate Michael Jackson’s 44th birthday, Britney Spears presented him with a special statue at the 2002 VMAs. There was some confusion as to why Jackson was receiving this honor, however. The misunderstanding stemmed from a comment the Princess of Pop made regarding the King of Pop, calling him “the artist of the millennium.” So when Jackson took to the stage, he assumed he was accepting “The Artist of the Millennium” award, which doesn’t even exist. While nobody corrected Jackson during his humble speech, host Jimmy Fallon poked fun at the incident shortly after. Jack Black also parodied the moment one year later, accepting the “Super Genius of the Universe” award.

#4: Adele Dazeem
“86th Academy Awards” (2014)


If you’re a Broadway fan, you know Idina Menzel for her work in musicals like “Rent” and “Wicked.” For mainstream audiences, it was Menzel’s voiceover performance as Elsa in “Frozen” that made her a household name. John Travolta still couldn’t get her name right at the 2014 Academy Awards, however. Before Menzel performed the Oscar-winning “Let It Go,” Travolta introduced her as “the wickedly talented, one and only, Adele Dazeem.” This flub was so bad it actually inspired an “Adele Dazeem Name Generator,” allowing people to “Travoltify” their names. Making light of the mistake, Menzel playfully turned the tables the following year, announcing Travolta as “Glom Gazingo.”

#3: Jennifer Lopez’s Golden Globes
“72nd Golden Globe Awards” (2015)


You’re bound to find plenty of cleavage at virtually any award show; the key is to not point it out. But “Golden Globes” is a rather suggestive name… so when Jennifer Lopez sported a revealing dress at the 2015 ceremony, Jeremy Renner couldn’t resist connecting the dots. Presenting an award together, Lopez mentioned that she had the nails to open the envelope, to which Renner added that she had the “globes” as well. Igniting laughter and shock, the comment arguably overshadowed Billy Bob Thornton’s win. During his speech, Thornton mentioned that you can get into a lot of trouble “no matter what you say” - it’s a reminder Renner probably wishes he’d heard sooner.

#2: Imma Let You Finish
“26th MTV Video Music Awards” (2009)


After Taylor Swift won the VMA for Best Female Video, Kanye West jumped onstage and snatched the microphone out of her hands, declaring that Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. West was booed off stage while Swift cried her eyes out backstage, forcing Beyoncé to do some damage control. The moment immediately sparked countless parodies, memes, and discussions. In response to West’s behavior, US President Barack Obama called him a “jackass” while future President Donald Trump called for a Kanye boycott. At least that’s one thing Obama and Trump could agree on. Meanwhile, West also nearly repeated himself at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards when Beck won Album of the Year.

#1: Wrong Best Picture Winner Announced
“89th Academy Awards” (2017)


Something was clearly amiss at the 2017 Oscars when Warren Beatty hesitated to announce the Best Picture winner. If you turned off your television after Faye Dunaway declared “La La Land” victorious, you missed a landmark moment in live television. After a few minutes onstage, the “La La Land” producers announced that there was a mix-up and “Moonlight” had actually won. Host Jimmy Kimmel jokingly blamed Steve Harvey, but it was apparently PwC accountant Brian Cullinan who handed Beatty the wrong envelope. While the crews from “La La Land” and “Moonlight” both acted graciously, the fiasco rocked Hollywood like never before. What makes this moment even more surreal is that “BoJack Horseman” totally saw it coming.
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