*One of the more bizarre moments of the Oscars Sunday night happened during Terrence Howard’s turn on the mic.
The “Empire” star had viewers puzzled with his oddly passionate and emotional reading of the teleprompter while introducing clips from Best Picture nominees “Whiplash,” “The Imitation Game” and “Selma.”
“How far would you go to be great, huh?” Howard said before describing the intense teacher-student relationship portrayed in “Whiplash.”
Things were still somewhat normal at this point. But what came next was a confusing mix of long pauses, attempts to hold back tears, lip smacks, a giggle and a “ding” noise, which sounded like he knocked himself into the microphone. (The camera was lingering on the audience at that moment.)
Howard, a 2005 Best Actor nominee for “Hustle & Flow,” then gave a long, emotional tribute to Alan Turing, the mathematical genius and Nazi code cracker portrayed in the World War II drama “The Imitation Game.”
“Our next film … our next film is amazing, I’m blown away right now myself,” said Howard, breathing heavily into his microphone as he described the way Turing was later persecuted for being gay.
Twitter was just as confused, but a lot of folks believe the teleprompter stopped working during his introduction of “Whiplash,” and his awkward dramatic pauses were attempts to stall until somebody got it working again.
Watch below:
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