The 5 Best Award Show Interruptions
Much like a big red button that says “Do not push,” some people see a carefully planned, wildly budgeted, star-studded event and can’t help but think, “How can I mess this up?” Whether it’s an honoree themselves or some rando off the street, an award ceremony can be the perfect time to get on your bullshit.
Robert Opel Streaked at the Oscars
In 1974, performance artist Robert Opel decided to “tweak the nose of what he regarded as a too-conformist society”… by participating in a widespread fad. To be fair, as popular as streaking was in the ‘70s, few did so on a stage as public as the Academy Awards, where Opel ran across the stage as David Niven introduced Elizabeth Taylor to present the award for Best Picture, flashing a peace sign in addition to everything else. He later explained that he’d gotten backstage by posing as a journalist, presumably becoming singlehandedly responsible for a lot of new security measures.
Michael Portnoy Dropped a ‘Soy Bomb’
Meanwhile, in 1998, Michael Portnoy was hired to stand around looking cool during Bob Dylan’s performance at the Grammys, but he decided instead to be weird. In the middle of Dylan’s song, Portnoy ripped off his shirt, revealing the words “SOY BOMB” scrawled across his chest, and ran to the front of the stage, where he danced briefly but enthusiastically alongside the confused Dylan. After everyone began asking what on God’s green fuck a soy bomb is, Portnoy explained that it’s a two-word poem: “Soy represents dense nutritional life,” he said, and “’bomb’ is, obviously, an explosive destructive force. So, ‘soy bomb’ is what I think art should be: dense, transformational, explosive life.” In other words, it’s artsy nonsense.
A Topless Environmentalist Infiltrated the JUNO Awards
In 2023, an activist decided to use award show nudity for a good cause by crashing the stage at the JUNO Awards while Avril Lavigne introduced a performer, with “STOP OLD LOGGING GROWTH NOW” and “SAVE THE GREEN BELT” written on her mostly uncovered torso. “I low-key, in my heart of hearts, hoped that she would be punk rock, girl power, give me the mic or something,” Ever Hatherly later said. Instead, Lavigne slapped her breast and told her to “get the fuck off, bitch,” because she’s not nearly as cool as she wants to be.
Ol’ Dirty Bastard Declared Wu-Tang for the Children
The 1998 Grammys were a wild ride. Earlier in the evening, before the “Soy Bomb” incident, Shawn Colvin approached the stage to accept the award for Song of the Year for “Sunny Came Home,” but she was beaten there by Wu-Tang Clan’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who had some grievances to air. “I went and bought me an outfit today that costed a lot of money today,” he said, “‘cause I figured Wu-Tang was gonna win,” referring to their Best Rap Album loss to Puff Daddy & The Family. “Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best,” he continued, giving us the instant catchphrase “Wu-Tang is for the children” before being politely but forcefully escorted offstage.
Man, remember “Sunny Came Home”? What a banger.
Kanye Can’t Stop
Of course, arguably the most famous award show interruption was when Kanye West crashed the stage as Taylor Swift accepted the award for Best Female Video to announce that “Beyonce had the best video of all time,” but that wasn’t the first or the last time. The first was after he lost Best Video at the 2006 MTV European Music Awards, which seemed like a joke at the time, but three years later, it became clear that he’s serious about acting as a fairly biased one-man jury. In 2015, he stormed the Grammy’s stage once again to stan for Beyonce after Beck won Album of the Year, clarifying that he was not joking and “Beck needs to respect artistry.”
It’s truly a testament to Beyonce’s significance that they haven’t just stopped nominating her.
