John Travolta is so used to award show flubs that we're surprised anyone asks him to hand out gongs anymore. His latest incident took place at the MTV Video Music Awards when he nearly handed Taylor's Moon Man to a drag queen. Needless to say, viewers were left cringing so hard.
1. Jade Jolie or Taylor Swift?
Taylor Swift was presented with the Video of the Year award at the 2019 MTV VMAs for her epic release You Need to Calm Down. The only problem was, it was John Travolta handing out the award and he almost gave it to RuPaul's Drag Race alum Jade Jolie who was joining the singer on stage with a number of other drag queens who starred in the video. In his defence, Jade actually portrayed Taylor in the video, so it was a "fairly" easy mistake to make. It could only happen to John Travolta though.
2. Adele Dazeem
One of the most awkward moments in award show history saw Travolta mispronounce Idina Menzel's name as "Adele Dazeem" upon introducing her to the stage for a performance of Let It Go at the 2014 Oscars. He explained later that he was starstruck after meeting Goldie Hawn backstage just minutes before the incident, and was thoroughly confused by the phonetic spelling of Idina's name on the autocue.
3. A "touching" moment
Idina got her own back the following year by introducing him as "Glom Gazingo", which was funny for about a minute until Travolta came out and started touching her face a little too much. "I deserve that", he said, cupping her chin. "But you, my darling, my beautiful, my wickedly talented Idina Menzel." His rep later claimed that the moment was rehearsed "in total", but we honestly don't know why Idina would be like: "It would be more funny if you repeatedly touch my face while you say it".
4. Miserable pronunciation
It seems Travolta really needs to brush up on his pronunciations. If you thought "Adele Dazeem" was bad, check out the way he says "Les Miserables" on stage at the 2013 Oscars. Still, at least he gave it a good go even if it left Victor Hugo turning in his grave.
5. A surprise kiss
People were shocked to see snaps of John Travolta coming up behind Scarlett Johansson on the red carpet at the 2015 Oscars, cupping her around the waist and planting a kiss on her cheek. The moment made headlines and angered a great many for his apparent disregard for consent, but if you watch the video of the moment, it seems Scarlett was left completely unfazed by the situation. She also insisted later that "there is nothing strange, creepy or inappropriate about John Travolta".
6. An even worse surprise kiss
The same cannot be said for Kirk Douglas, who looked utterly flabbergasted when Travolta kissed him on the lips after receiving an award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2007. The then 91-year-old had tried to offer a handshake but got a lot more than he bargained for.
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