Warren Beatty, Kanye West, Steve Harvey and More of Live TV’s Greatest Gaffes
And just like that, the Oscar went from gold to red-faced.
Thanks to the glorious risk of live TV, there is always the chance of something going wonky, be it an awards-show envelope mix-up, a disastrous interview or a messy musical performance in front of millions of drunken revelers. And while the Moonlight–La La Land snafu of this year’s Academy Awards was a massive “WTF just happened?” experience that so many viewers shared together globally—and was the first time ever the wrong Best Picture was announced (that we know of)—it won’t be the last time live television gives us something to talk, tweet, meme and joke about. Just ask these other high points in high-profile gaffes.
When Mariahs Attack
Can you believe it was only two months ago that Mariah Carey had her infamous New Year’s Rockin’ Eve fail? Someone definitely dropped the ball on Times Square that night.
Steve Harvey’s Universal Reversal
Two years after he misread the results of 2015’s Miss Universe pageant and announced Miss Colombia the winner over the actual champ from the Philippines, Harvey is still the Patron Saint of Getting It Wrong. Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel proved that when he joking blamed the guy for this year’s debacle as soon as he returned to the stage.
Idol Sends Daughtry Home
Back when American Idol was awesome (and on), the fifth season threw fans into a frenzy with the final-4 ouster of front-running rocker Chris Daughtry. The producers didn’t even have time to cut away from the clearly shocked Katharine McPhee. Check out her face at the :28 second mark.
Miss Teen’s Mistake
We personally believe that Americans are unable to look away from Miss South Carolina’s interview response because some people out there in our nation actually realize that our educational system does not extend to South Africa or “the Iraq” or “everywhere like such as.”
Liz Taylor’s Golden Surprise
The late Dame Elizabeth Taylor may have been even more delighted than the Gladiator folks when she finally figured out which side of the envelope had the 2001 Golden Globe winner for Best Picture.
Whitney Port Takes a Tumble
Possibly the only real thing to come out of MTV’s The Hills was the mortification we all felt for Whitney when she tripped coming down the stairs during a Good Morning America segment about Oscar fashions. That, and Lauren Conrad’s reaction.
Kanye “Kanyes” Taylor Swift
The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards went south after West jumped on stage and dumped on T-Swifty’s win for Best Female Video with an unexpected and unedited rant. Yeezy, I’ma let you be the finishing entry in this article, but Beyonce had one of the best moves to undo your interruption by bringing Taylor back out later in the show so she could have the moment you stole from her.
Do you have any live-TV faux pas faves? Let us know in the comments below!
