The Worst Celeb Red Carpet Moments of All Time
Ranging from awkward to straight-up illegal.
Red-carpet moments are simultaneously important and high-stakes—which means they're sometimes going to lead to some awkward interactions. These are live events, so things can go wrong easily (also, it's deeply stressful, so some of these cringe-y interactions we can probably chalk up to nerves). But in the '00s and '10s, it was also popular to do "pranks" on the red carpet, including unplanned interactions that were pretty upsetting in hindsight and even more so now. In particular, Vitalii Sediuk, the “prankster” who has jumped on, kissed, and assaulted a variety of people—he has been arrested multiple times and described as a menace—made for some of the most weirdest and most disturbing celebrity encounters on this list.
Below, 32 of the worst red carpet moments of all time. They range from an “LOL wasn’t that silly how I almost tore your dress” to “Um, that person was arrested.”
'Don't Worry Darling' at Venice
There was a lot to unpack here. A rumored rift between Florence Pugh and director Olivia Wilde! Chris Pine disassociating! Harry Styles...spitting?? The cast was mostly tight-lipped, which only made the situation more intriguing. And about a thousand memes were born!
Emma Chamberlain (and Jack Harlow)
This one is less an actual problem and more a situation that spawned a now-cherished meme. Emma Chamberlain was interviewing Jack Harlow at the Met Gala, and he parted with a "Love ya!" Chamberlain proceeded to make a face that made it look like she'd left her body and entered another dimension.
Stella McCartney and Rihanna
Call this one of those “oops” moments, but the famed designer Stella McCartney accidentally got her heel caught on Rihanna’s train…and literally had to enlist the singer’s help to get it unstuck. I'm always surprised this doesn't happen more often, but the horror on everyone's face is palpable.
Behati Prinsloo and Adam Levine
As can sometimes happen on the red carpet (and will happen again on this list!), wardrobe malfunctions become a major issue when there are so many cameras. Behati Prinsloo's dress slipped down her chest at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty...and husband Adam Levine was there to help with coverage.
Björk
Björk's swan dress has by now been so discussed and emulated that it's tipped into being iconic (although at the time, the Oscars was not that sort of event). What might be the most bizarre, though, is that the singer brought several eggs and just started dropping them on the red carpet. Security was confused.
Catalina Sandino and Michael Cera
While at Sundance for Magic Magic, Catalina Sandino and Michael Cera were taking turns goofily dipping each other on the red carpet. Sandino went in for a playful smooch, and Cera did the slowest, strangest, wackiest fall in living memory. The two thought it was hilarious, and we're left with these iconic pics.
Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton
At the Gone in 60 Seconds premiere, when asked by MTV News the most exciting thing they'd done separately or together, Billy Bob Thornton grinned at Angelina Jolie and answered, "I think it was today. My favorite one in a car was today, just before we got here...You want me to be honest with you? We ****** in the car on the way here.”
Mayim Bialik
At the 2014 SAG awards, Mayim Bialik was asked what it was like to play someone so brilliant—someone who could do calculus—on The Big Bang Theory. She replied that she'd trained in calculus and was a neuroscientist. "You may not have known that," she said. The interviewers scrambled, and it was...so awkward.
Jerry Seinfeld (and Kesha)
Jerry Seinfeld was being interviewed at the Kennedy Center in 2017 when Kesha came up to ask for a hug. He refused, point blank—twice! Kesha later said, "It was the most depressing, and hilarious, but also so sad, it was like the saddest moment of my life."
Hugh Grant (and Ashley Graham)
When being interviewed by Ashley Graham at the 2023 Oscars, Hugh Grant was, as friends later described him, his "grumpy" self: When she asked who he was looking forward to seeing, he said, "“No one in particular." When she asked who he was wearing, he said, "Just my suit." Also this paled in comparison to his snark when he presented at the ceremony, btw.
Issa Rae
Interview note: When you ask someone what the title of their memoir would be, make sure they haven't already written a memoir. Such was the case for Giuliana Rancic interviewing Issa Rae, although Rae rebounded well by speculating what the title of her second memoir would be.
Amy Schumer and Kim Kardashian
In the era of red carpet pranks, Amy Schumer got in on the "fun" by intentionally diving in front of Kim Kardashian and Kanye. Later recounting it to Graham Norton, she said turned around and saw “Kim and Kanye standing there, just owning it, just being short and important. And I think falling is the funniest thing, so I took a dive in front of them.” They didn’t think it was funny.
Ryan Seacrest and Sacha Baron Cohen
In character to promote his film The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen was being interviewed by Ryan Seacrest and...spilled ashes all over his suit. Seacrest later explained that the original target of the prank was George Clooney and that Baron Cohen later apologized for it.
Zac Efron
While at the premiere of The Lorax, Zac Efron pulled his hands out of his pocket—and out dropped a condom! He later told Matt Lauer blushingly that he's "never really had a pocket-checking policy when I was going on the red carpet before, but now we've fully instated one."
Angelina Jolie and James Haven
On the 2000 Oscars red carpet, Angelina Jolie kissed brother James Haven on the lips, which confused people. And, in her acceptance speech, she added, "I'm in shock, and I'm so in love with my brother right now. He just held me and said he loved me and I know he's so happy for me, and thank you for that."
Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker
Celebrities are kind of legendary for their public displays of affection (PDA), but it can make for some awkward moments on red carpets. Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker have done this...a lot. According to Kourtney, "I don’t wanna get lipstick all over him and I don’t wanna ruin my lipstick...We also don’t wanna not kiss, so we’ll kiss with our tongues."
Cardi B and Offset
In their appearances on the red carpet together, Cardi B and Offset have had a ton of PDA—including a ton of tongue touching—but the most notable instance was the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala in 2020, where (by grabbing his wife in her low v-neck dress) he was either causing or preventing a wardrobe malfunction.
Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly
Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly have had a long, historic run of PDA on the red carpet. Most notably at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards (after the two had been dating about a year), the two touched tongues, revealing that Machine Gun Kelly's tongue had been made black for the event.
Tara Reid
Tara Reid turned into “the girl who flashed a bunch of paparazzi” at Diddy’s birthday party in 2004, where her dress strap slid down (people accused her of doing it in intentionally, which she denies). I just hated that the paparazzi were high-fiving each other and laughing," Reid said to Access Hollywood. "It was so cruel."
Taylor Swift
I'm just gonna leave this exchange between Entertainment Tonight interviewer Nancy O'Dell and Taylor Swift here:
O'Dell: "I just wanted to show the legs, because you're going to walk home with more than maybe just a trophy tonight… I think lots of men?"
Swift: "I'm not going to walk home with any men tonight. I'm going to hang out with my friends and then I go home to the cats."
Rashida Jones
When TNT's Danielle Demski spotted Rashida Jones on the SAG red carpet in 2015, she said, "You look like you've just come off an island or something, you're very tan, very tropical." Jones (who's the daughter of Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton) replied, "I mean, you know, I'm ethnic."
Nicole Kidman (and Joan Rivers)
Nicole Kidman's chartreuse gown went on to make history at the Oscars (which used to be an event not known for its colorful, avant-garde couture). Unfortunately, though, Joan Rivers shouted after her as she went by, "Nicole! Come tell me why you wore such an ugly color!...I hate that color! You are making me puke!”
Vitalii Sediuk and Anna Wintour
In 2015, Sediuk accosted Anna Wintour during fashion week (she rebuffed him hard); “Anna, will you take me on the cover of Vogue?” he asked, pushing a microphone in her face. In that same event, he came up to and tried to kiss Miranda Kerr. She was visibly unamused.
John Travolta and Scarlett Johansson
At the 2015 Oscars, John Travolta made headlines, in part because had a strange interaction with Idina Menzel wherein he touched her face, but also in part because of this photo where it looks like he's giving an unwanted kiss. Johansson later said in a statement, "There is nothing strange, creepy or inappropriate about John Travolta...The image that is circulating is an unfortunate still-frame from a live-action encounter that was very sweet and totally welcome."
Jennifer Garner and Garey Busey
While chatting with Ryan Seacrest and Laura Linney for a 2008 Oscars red carpet interview, Jennifer Garner was visibly shocked when Gary Busey interrupted to...come in and kiss her on the neck. Garner rallied, but retorted to Seacrest's next question, "You mean were you going to ask me about getting kissed on the neck on the red carpet by this man? That was fun!"
Vitalii Sediuk and Bradley Cooper
While Bradley Cooper was walking the red carpet at the 2014 SAG Awards, Sediuk came up to the actor, hugged his knees, and buried his face in Cooper’s crotch. Poor Cooper seemed incredibly uncomfortable and other actors helped get Sediuk off him.
Vitalii Sediuk and Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio had to deal with Sediuk at the Santa Barbara Film Festival when the latter knelt down and gave him a hug, putting his face—where else—in the actor’s crotch. According to a source, he “broke through the barricade and did this. He was 'escorted' off the premises and now blackballed."
Scarlett Johansson and Isaac Mizrahi
The Golden Globes can be a weird place, thanks to the alcohol and general off-the-cuff attitude of the awards ceremony, but sometimes that can lead to some deeply uncomfortable interactions. Case in point! Designer Isaac Mizrahi, interviewing Scarlett Johansson on the red carpet in 2006, asked her if she was wearing a bra, then decided to check himself by grabbing her. “What is going on?!” she said, clearly rattled.
Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian was at her 2012 perfume launch when someone dumped flour all over her. She was hurried off the red carpet and called the whole ordeal the craziest” and most “unexpected” thing (and speculated it was an anti-fur protest). But the whole thing was apparently staged, according to her former media strategist Sheeraz Hasan in the Kardashian documentary.
Kim Kardashian and Vitalii Sediuk
In 2014, Sediuk grabbed Kim Kardashian’s legs while she was headed into the Balmain show (her security pried him away), and then again in 2016 he ran up and kissed her rear end before, again, being dealt with by security. Sediuk said later that he was protesting her "implants." Sure.
Vitalii Sediuk and America Ferrera
While at Cannes for How to Train Your Dragon 2, Sediuk made it to the red carpet, then got on his hands and knees to crawl under America Ferreira’s dress—he was swiftly removed and arrested. Ferrara later said she "didn't even know what happened" and said the whole thing was like a “crazy dream.”
Hugh Grant (and a Fan)
Remember the time that Hugh Grant was walking the red carpet for Music and Lyrics and a woman (apparently a megafan) literally handcuffed herself to him without a key? And they just had to stand around for a few minutes until the fire brigade could come to cut the handcuffs off...and she was arrested??
