Despite having been dead for twenty years, Luther Vandross unwittingly won a Grammy on Sunday when Cher announced his name instead of Kendrick Lamar.
There were so many viral moments at the 2026 Grammys, but none were as wholesome as Cher’s on-stage blunder. It all began on Saturday, when Cher was supposed to attend the Academy’s Special Merit Awards Ceremony to pick up her lifetime achievement award. You know, it’s a pretty big deal, only she never turned up.
“Oh! The Grammy goes to Luther Vandross!” – Cher #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/G9tFB5rBHX
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 2, 2026
Instead, she was given her award during the main Grammys ceremony on Sunday, where she admitted: “I don’t do this part very well. I mean, put a microphone in my hand and have some music — I’m great. I guess I’m supposed to walk off now.”
In actual fact, she wasn’t supposed to walk off. Grammys host Trevor Noah was forced to bring her back on stage to present the record of the year award, and that’s where the chaos really kicked off.
Cher when Luther Vandross didn’t walk on stage to accept the award. #Grammys pic.twitter.com/r4rzwZllxS
— solomon (@SolomonPuryear) February 2, 2026
Announcing the award, Cher looked helplessly around the room as she looked for the teleprompter. The actual result was in the envelope she was holding, but upon realising, she wrongly announced the late Luther Vandross as the winner. He died in 2005.
In all fairness, Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s song is called Luther.
A producer spoke out about Cher’s Grammys ‘anarchy’
On Monday, executive producer Ben Winston detailed Cher’s Grammys blunder and whether or not there was actually a prompter for her to read from. He was the one in Trevor Noah’s ear, begging him to “get up and bring her back.”
“I promise you, we had briefed her, and I promise you, what she had to do was in the prompter,” he told Rolling Stone.
Cher literally the entire time she was on stage. #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/yqwoKhWPhb
— Austin (@AustinPlanet) February 2, 2026
Despite the viral blunder, if Ben “could go back in time, I’d want that to happen again.”
“She’s happy with it. She had a great time. You want a bit of anarchy,” he said.
Kendrick Lamar is yet to comment, but SZA was chill about it
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, SZA didn’t have any hard feelings towards the legendary pop star. She admitted that she had no idea what was going on, but argued that a “legend was speaking.”
She said: “A legend was speaking — that’s what I understood. 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.’”
I mean, it’s Cher. That icon could walk up on stage, kick a puppy, fart on Alex Warren, and we’d still love her.
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Featured image credit: John Salangsang/Shutterstock
