The premise for an interlude at the Oscars was simple: Questlove played a song and a chosen celebrity had to guess if the tune was ever nominated for or won an Oscar.
The game, run by “Judas and the Black Messiah” actor Lil Rel Howery towards the end of the Oscars live show, featured Andra Day, Daniel Kaluuya and Glenn Close.
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When it was Close’s turn, E.U.’s “Da Butt” played for a few seconds. Howery expressed doubt that Close would know the song, but she proved him wrong.
She knew the song’s name, who wrote it, what movie it was in and the backstory on why it wasn’t nominated.
“Wait a second. Wait a second. That’s Da Butt,” Close exclaimed in what surely was a scripted moment. “It was a classic song by the great Washington, D.C. go-go band E.U. Shoutouts to Sugar Bear and the Backyard Band and the whole DMV.”
And when Howery asked her if she knew the dance, she jumped out of her seat and gyrated accordingly, instantly making it one of the most talked about moments from the historic 2021 Oscars.
“This is the Blackest Oscars of all time, y'all,” Howery joked.
Spike Lee had the song written for his 1988 film “School Daze,” but “my friends at the Oscars missed it,” said Close, who was bleeped when expressing her disappointment about its lack of a nomination.
Day won her music trivia test for Prince's “Purple Rain” and also got bleeped in the process, guessing correctly that it was never nominated or won an Oscar. The film's score, yes. The song, no.
Kaluuya failed with Donna Summer's “Last Dance.” It won an Oscar. He said otherwise, with Close joking he was too young to recall the Summer era.
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For complete coverage of this year’s Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards