Grammys end in most ‘chaotic’ way after Cher walks off stage over awards blunder

Despite her decades on stage, Cher has faced a series of blunders during her long- awaited return to the Grammys.

The Goddess of Pop, 79, returned to the awards ceremony for the first time in 18 years overnight, where she was handed a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.

After accepting her accolade, she’d been tasked with reading the nominees for record of year following her speech.

However, she seemingly forgot, and instead encouraged the crowd to ‘sit down, please’. She then admitted: ‘I don’t do this part very well. I mean, put a microphone in my hand, have some music, I’m great!’

During her acceptance speech, she spoke to the crowd about chasing dreams and achieving goals, sharing that ‘if it’s not happening now, it will happen soon’.

‘I knew what I wanted to be when I was five years old, and I was famous at 19, and had a top rated show in my twenties, actually,’ she said.

‘But it didn’t occur to me how rough my career was going to be and my life was going to be. And I’m not saying, “Oh, poor me”, but whatever. I was either a loser or winning an Oscar. I’m sure a lot of you in the audience know what I’m talking about.

‘The thing I want to tell you, the only thing I wanted you to take away with you, and I’ve been in this business. Never give up on your dream, no matter what happens. Live it, be it, and if it’s not happening now, it will happen soon. So that’s all I have to say. Thank you.’

Looking around nervously and appearing somewhat confused, she then declared: ‘I guess I’m supposed to walk off now. Alright!’

But as she slowly walked towards the back of the stage, host Trevor Noah rushed out to remind her of what she needed to do next.

‘Before you go, before you go, Cher! Before you go, could we get you to announce the nominees? I could do it, but it’s not the same,’ he said, while a crew member could be seen guiding her back out to the centre of the stage,

‘Welcome back Cher, everybody!’ the comedian declared, before Cher then approached the microphone again, where she said: ‘You can see I wanted to get off the stage.’

Then reading out the nominees without a hitch, things quickly went haywire again. Holding the winner envelope in her hand, Cher paused slightly whilst looking into the camera and then exclaiming: ‘Oh, they told me it was going to be on the prompter!’

The Turn Back Time singer then laughed and read the name aloud, with the winner being Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s 2024 collaboration Luther.

However, Cher announced the wrong name, appearing to say ‘Luther Vandross’ (but mispronouncing it Grandoss) – the singer whose song If This World Were Mine Lamar sampled on the track.

Realising her mistake, she quickly corrected herself and shouted ‘No, Kendrick Lamar. The Grammy goes to Kendrick Lamar’ as the rapper could be seen laughing before making his way onto the stage.

The blunder also delighted many watching on from home, who were left in fits of laughter.

‘The pause, the name mix‑up, the absolute chaos — only Cher could accidentally turn a Record of the Year announcement into camp television history,’ user ItsJustShiboo posted on X.

‘She was so lost I’m crying,’ Daniel declared.

‘This is funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,’ Ella added.

However, LaBella shared: ‘She’s almost 80, let’s give her some grace.’

During his speech, Lamar then paid tribute to Vandross, who died in 2005: ‘First and foremost, let’s give a shout-out to the late, great, Luther Vandross. It was very, very important to keep the integrity of this record.’

After the gaffe from the pop superstar, Noah later declared: ‘I love live television!’.

However, that sentiment may not have been shared by best new artist nominee Alex Warren after his performance was plagued by technical issues.

The American singer, 25, took to the stage to perform his hit Ordinary. But after walking through the crowd towards the stage, he appeared to have trouble with his in-ear device, which helps a singer hear themselves in a loud space.

Fumbling with the back on his back as well as the earpieces, he continued to sing but could be seen either tugging the earpiece out, or the device falling out on its own, just as he reached the chorus of his song.

These issues then saw him fall about half a beat behind at one point, but he managed to recover quickly and then move on to the next part of the song’s performance which saw him rise over the crowd on a mechanical lift. When the song was over, Warren pulled the earpiece off.

Later addressing what happened on social media, he captioned a video: ‘This would only happen to me.’

‘When you’re performing at the Grammys and all you hear is this in your ears,’ he wrote, alongside distorted and delayed audio from the track.

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