The 2014 Academy Awards ceremony, in a now-infamous Oscars moment, Menzel was about to take the stage to sing “Let It Go,” her signature song from the Oscar-winning film “Frozen.” All Travolta, one of the night’s presenters, had to do was introduce her. But the veteran actor somehow mispronounced her first and last names. (Adele Dazeem?)
Menzel reflected on the incident. She remembers initially thinking, “I’m finally here and this guy screwed up my name.”
During a 2021 appearance on “The Late Late Show’s” fun “Carpool Karaoke” segment alongside her “Cinderella” co-stars Camila Cabello and Billy Porter, Menzel shared a similar sentiment.
After all, his mangled pronunciation of her name got everybody talking about her. It also ended up connecting her with Travolta forever.
For his part, Travolta apologized for the mispronunciation in a public statement days after the ceremony.
Menzel and Travolta ended up presenting together at the Academy Awards the following year. Immediately after the ceremony, Travolta appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Before the frazzled actor knew it, he was tapped to go on. As he made his way to the stage, he was told that his cue cards would now feature a phonetic spelling of Menzel’s name.
The new phonetic spelling of Menzel’s name looked bizarre on the cards, said Travolta, who recalled thinking, “I don’t know that name.”
After laughing over the matter with Kimmel, Travolta added that he was happy that Menzel had enjoyed “one of the best years” of her career since his blundered introduction. “And she gives me credit,” he said, beaming.
Five years later, Menzel made it clear again that she looks back fondly on Travolta’s introduction. Just weeks before she performed “Into the Unknown” from “Frozen II” at the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony, Menzel referred to the special moment in a tweet.
