Ariana Grande got smacked by an angel
Even if you never watched the Victoria Secret's Fashion Show, you probably are well aware the annual event included lingerie-clad models decked out in large angel wings. The angel wings, however, posed an unexpected threat to Ariana Grande. During the performance of her song "Bang Bang," model Elsa Hosk bopped the pop star with one of her pink fluffy wings. Grande hunched over and made a face, and for a split second, the otherwise glamorous event brought the awkward in a big way. "A Victoria's Secret angel accidentally smacked me in the face with her wings and it was awesome #goals #bangbangintomyface," Grande wrote in a since-deleted tweet (via Paper).
The spectacle, however, brought runway safety to the attention of the event organizers. Model Lais Ribeiro told The Cut, "We had a meeting about it. Ed [Razek] said, 'Don't kill each other on the runway. Give each other space.' And then we all did it right during the second show." A photo taken at the perfect moment when Grande was ducking from the model and looking frightened became a major meme-able moment at the time. Users photoshopped the terrified pop singer into a host of hypothetical situations like ducking from a dinosaur and sitting on Santa's lap.
Jimmy Fallon thought he offended RuPaul
Who could forget the time when Jimmy Fallon thought his career was over forever for a very brief awkward moment? When RuPaul was a guest on "The Tonight Show" in 2020, Fallon pointed out that the entertainer was the first drag queen to grace the cover of Vanity Fair. Never one to miss an opportunity for a joke, RuPaul pretended to be offended and replied, "A drag queen?! A drag queen?!" For a moment, Fallon worried he'd stepped in it. A look of terror washed over his face before RuPaul declared, "I am the Queen of Drag." Relieved, Fallon laughed.
The moment took off on Twitter and Fallon responded to the viral tweet on "The Tonight Show." "I really thought it was over. ... That's it, I'm canceled. I started my own hashtag: #jimmyfallonisoverparty. I was like, 'I had a good run, you know? I had 10 years in the business.'" But it was all a big joke and Jimmy Fallon lives to see another day in show business.
Whoopi Goldberg passed gas on live TV
Well, you can't have a list of awkward celebrity moments without mentioning at least one accidental fart on live television. One of the more notable examples happened while Whoopi Goldberg and her co-hosts interviewed Claire Danes on "The View" in 2011. The "Homeland" star was discussing a rather serious topic about American identity post-9/11 when Goldberg loudly released some built-up gas. "Oh excuse me. I think I just blew a little frog out of there," Goldberg said as the crowd laughed.
While it would be hard for most of us to not cower away in shame, Goldberg immediately turns back to the conversation with a calm nonchalance. And as it turns out, Goldberg may not find farting as embarrassing as some. The actor, whose real first name is Caryn, was apparently inspired by flatulence when she came up with her stage name. As her granddaughter Amara Skye shared episode of "Claim to Fame" (via Entertainment Weekly), "My grandma got her name because she likes to fart a lot...So, whoopee cushions, farts. That's how Caryn Johnson became Whoopi Goldberg."
Ellen DeGeneres questioned Dakota Johnson's invite list
When Dakota Johnson appeared as a guest on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to promote her film "The Peanut Butter Falcon" in 2019, the conversation immediately turned to a passive-aggressive accusation. Asking about the "Fifty Shades of Grey" star's 30th birthday get-together, DeGeneres said, "How was the party? I wasn't invited." Johnson set the record straight right away: "Actually, no. That's not the truth, Ellen. You were invited. ... Last time I was on the show, last year, you gave me a bunch of sh** about not inviting you, but I didn't even know you wanted to be invited." DeGeneres continued to question whether or not she really did send her an invite, and a demurely annoyed Johnson replied, "Ask everybody. Ask Jonathan, your producer." The producer confirmed the invite and DeGeneres had no choice but to backpedal a bit, creating an excuse on the fly for why she didn't show.
The interview just kept getting more awkward after Johnson said Tig Notaro was her favorite comedian and DeGeneres seemed to take offense. And then when DeGeneres claimed that she was the one who introduced her to Notaro, Johnson had to correct her again before observing, "Gosh, this isn't going well."
Two years later, Drew Barrymore brought up the Ellen DeGeneres moment when Johnson was a guest co-host on "The Drew Barrymore Show." Johnson didn't say anything about the incident, but she did laugh when Barrymore called the back and forth "amazing."
Jennifer Lawrence took a tumble at the Oscars
When Jennifer Lawrence walked up the stairs to receive her first Academy Award in 2013 for her work in "Silver Linings Playbook," she tripped and fell down before she could make it to the stage. When she got to the microphone and the audience was still standing and cheering, she said, "You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell and that's really embarrassing but thank you." She struggled through her speech, out of breath and clearly trying to remember what she had planned to say.
On a 2020 episode of the podcast "Absolutely Not," Lawrence told Heather McMahan that she had been overtaken by adrenaline and nerves. "I actually don't remember what that moment felt like when they said my name, and then I fell and it just erased everything from my mind. My full brain went blank," she said. The "Hunger Games" star also said that a few days after she ate it in front of some of Hollywood's biggest stars, CNN's Anderson Cooper wondered if the fall was all for show, which she found hurtful. "It was so devastating because it was this horrific humiliation to me ... I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to give a speech like that again." She did say that Cooper eventually apologized for his remarks and that enough time has passed that she can now look back on the awkward moment with a hint of fondness.