And the Award Goes to... Oops?

Michael Jackson Accepts an Award Instead of Cake (2002 Video Music Awards)

In 2002, MTV's VMA ceremony was held on August 29th... which also happens to be the same day as Michael Jackson's birthday. To celebrate his B-Day, MTV planned an impromptu party. They had Britney Spears present him with a cake, and during her introductory speech, she called Michael "the artist of the millennium."

And that's when things started to get a little... weird. A confused MJ thought that he was being given an actual award for "artist of the millennium" (no such award exists), and began giving a speech of his own. Michael accepted the "award," and then went on to thank (in no particular order), God, his mother, James Brown... and magician David Blaine. A slightly startled audience went along with it, and gave him a standing ovation anyway.

Sigh. Oh MJ, we hardly knew you. And you hardly knew what you were saying.

Avril Lavigne Can't Say "David Bowie" (2003 Grammy Awards)

An eighteen-year-old Avril Lavigne mispronounced the name of one of the most famous rock-stars in the world at the nominations announcements of the '03 Grammys. Announcing the nominees for best male vocal performance, she pronounced the Thin White Duke's name as follows: "David B-OW-ie." Uh, no, Ms. Lavigne. It's said like this: "B-ough-ie." Pronounced "Owe," as in, you sort of owe him an apology.

When told of her mistake, Avril said this: "Oops! I knew that was going to happen..." Yeah. Hey, Avril, considering how hard it is to pronounce your own name (it's AV-roohl Luhv-EEN, for the record), maybe you could take a little more effort when reading the names of others. Just a thought...



Andy Williams to Stevie Wonder: "Can You See Us Now?!" (1976 Grammy Awards)

Sadly, the next awards show moment occurred before the existence of YouTube - otherwise, we'd have approximately one million video clips of it. And speaking of video problems, technical difficulties were rife at the 1976 Grammy awards. Singer Stevie Wonder was all set to perform a live show from Nigeria, but couldn't get connected to the main Grammys stage.

It was at this point that host Andy Williams grew frustrated, and shouted out the immortal words, "Stevie, can you see us now?!" Slight problem, though. Stevie Wonder is BLIND. Whoops.

Many years later, Ryan Seacrest would perform a version of the same mistake when he attempted to high-five a blind contestant on 'American Idol.' Although that's not from an awards show, we thought it worth mentioning... just because it remains mortifyingly awful...

Kristen Stewart Drops Her Award (2009 MTV Movie Awards)

If you're Kristen Stewart, star of "Twilight," you don't just have to worry about dating an abstinence glitter vampire, or about being surrounded by hordes of obsessed fans. No, you also have to worry about more basic things... like gravity.

Here, Kristen accepts a best actress award, then instantly drops it to the ground. Luckily, there's a bizarre popcorn-hatted creature in gold spandex to help her pick it up. And thank God for that.



Marisa Tomei Named Best Supporting Actress by "Mistake" (1993 Academy Awards)

This one isn't actually true... at least not as far as we call tell. Marisa Tomei is considered the biggest dark-horse in Oscars history, and when she won the award for best actress in 1993 (for 'My Cousin Vinny,' of all things), people were taken aback. (One reason for this was that she beat out acclaimed veteran actresses Joan Plowright and Vanessa Redgrave.)

After Marisa won the award, rumors circulated that presenter Jack Palance had been drunk, and had simply read out her name by mistake. However, there seems to be no truth to these rumors. (Although Jack Palance does seem a little confused, calling Judy Davis "Joan," for instance.) The Academy Awards insists that it has two certified accountants at either end of the awards stage, to prevent such a mistake from ever happening. For her part, Ms. Tomei has called the rumors of her getting an accidental award to be "extremely hurtful." And we have to admit, she's got a pretty good point there.

Elizabeth Taylor, Drunken(?) Awards Show Presenter (2001 Golden Globes)

We'll never really know if Elizabeth Taylor was drunk during this show or not. But it's Elizabeth Taylor... so draw your own conclusions. Here, she attempts to read the nominees for best picture during the 2001 Golden Globes. First, she opens the envelope containing the winner by mistake. Then, she receives shouted advice from the crowd. ("I'm new at this!" she says.) Finally, a flustered Dick Clark steps in to help her with the difficult task of reading names from a list. ...And the whole process is redeemed by Ms. Taylor's startled cry at the end: "Glaaaad-iator!!!"

(Note: the Golden Globes footage begins at the 6:15 mark of the video.)

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