The 60-year-old actor clearly did not rehearse well backstage when he was due to present Menzel's performance.
- Mar 3, 2014
AceShowbiz - John Travolta became the subject of ridicule after he messed up his presentation of Idina Menzel's performance at Sunday, March 2 Academy Awards ceremony. The veteran actor had difficulty mentioning the singer's name, reading it as something that sounded like "Adele Nazeem".
Menzel, a Tony Award-winning singer/actress, was due to perform the nominated song "Let It Go" from "Frozen (2013)". Travolta was given the task to introduce her and said, "Please welcome the wickedly talented Adele Nazeem."
The misspelling did not go unnoticed. Rosie O'Donnell joked on Twitter, "I'll have the ADAHZEE MAZINE with sauce on the side." Mario Lopez tweeted, "Travolta is the man...But AdeleNazim ?!" Actress Constance Zimmer wrote, "Wait, John Travolta u don't know @idinamenzel 's name?"
Despite the flub, Menzel awed the audience with her powerful rendition of the ballad. The night's host Ellen DeGeneres mentioned the correct pronunciation of Menzel's name after the performance. DeGeneres herself almost butchered a celebrity's name when introducing the presenters. She said, "Please welcome Christopher..." before correcting it to Christoph Waltz.
There were also a bunch of other name mistakes made during the Oscars. Julia Roberts was mistakenly called Jessica Roberts by ABC red carpet fashion correspondent Tyson Beckford. The official Academy Awards Instagram page also captioned Penelope Cruz as Salma Hayek.
