Cher made the most of her viral moment at Sunday’s Grammys, according to an executive producer who said the legendary entertainer had been ‘briefed’ with instructions prior to her gaffe.
‘I promise you, we had briefed her, and I promise you, what she had to do was in the prompter,’ executive producer Ben Winston told Rolling Stone Monday.
In the appearance, the 79-year-old entertainer accidentally named late vocalist Luther Vandross — who died in 2005 — as the winner for Record of the Year.
The award was actually for the song titled Luther, a collaboration between Kendrick Lamar and SZA.
Cher announced, ‘Luther; Luther Vandross – no, Kendrick Lamar!’
Winston paraphrased one of Cher’s hits in telling the publication, ‘If I could go back in time, I’d want that to happen again.’
Winston added that the gaffe made for a memorable and organic moment in the show, adding, ‘You want a bit of anarchy’ on the live broadcast.
Winston told the outlet that the Believe songstress — who was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys ceremony — was ‘happy with how everything went’ and ‘had a great time.’
SZA told Entertainment Tonight that the gaffe was irrelevant amid Cher’s larger-than-life presence in the moment.
‘A legend was speaking — that’s what I understood,’ she said. ‘Cher was queening.’
‘She probably really knew Luther Vandross. Of course, her brain and her energy is connecting that energy to the energy that we’re sharing.’
Cher’s appearance was marked by a bit of confusion, as she was initially presented with the Lifetime honor by host Trevor Noah.
Cher had been slated to receive the honors at a Saturday event, but did not show up to it.
In a speech Sunday, Cher said of public speaking, ‘I don’t do this part very well. I mean, put a microphone in my hand and have some music — I’m great.’
She wrapped up, ‘I guess I’m supposed to walk off now.’
According to Winston, he told Noah in his earpiece, ‘You’ve just gotta get up and bring her back.’
Noah told Cher, ‘Before you go, could we get you to announce the nominees?’ and she replied, ‘Oh! They told me it was going to be on a prompter.’
Noah said of the spontaneity of the award show broadcast, ‘I love live television.’
This year marked Noah’s last as host, and Winston said it will be a tough task to find someone to pull off the challenging hosting gig.
‘It’s really hard in that room to play comedy — it’s an arena,’ Winston said.
The lighthearted misstep was reminiscent of John Travolta’s famous flub at the 2014 Oscars, when he accidentally called Idina Menzel by the name Adele Dazeem.
She got him back at the following year’s event, introducing him to the crowd as Glom Gazingo.
