Terrence Howard confessed this week that he "choked" while presenting the nominees for Best Picture at the recent 87th Annual Academy Awards.
As Us Weekly reported, the star of Fox's new drama "Empire" explained to "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon Monday that he tried to memorize his lines, but got all shook up when he realized the crowd was filled with industry titans.
"I get out there and I'm breathing and I got this memorized, I've worked 18 hours to work this out, I'm about to kill it," he began. Then, all of a sudden: "There's Oprah!"
That's when Howard's lines escaped him, leaving him to stumble and struggle through the rest of his pronouncements — and even bumping the mic at one point. At the time, the audience began to speculate that he was sick, drunk, or somehow just not quite himself.
Howard said his mistake was simply one of pride.
He thought it was ridiculous that most actors — people paid to memorize lines — were using the teleprompter while on stage. He thought he could memorize his lines, and show off a bit. Needless to say, things didn't go quite as planned.
In the end, Howard and Fallon had a good laugh about it, while "Tonight Show" drummer Questlove — who was at the Oscars himself — clutched his forehead in embarrassment the whole way through.
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