Entertainment

Idina Menzel: John Travolta Oscar mistake was ‘greatest thing that ever happened’

Idina Menzel just can’t let Adele Dazeem go.

The singer, 50, brought up the infamous moment when John Travolta messed up her name at the 2014 Oscars once again while discussing her new film, “Cinderella.” 

Travolta, 67, butchered the “Frozen” star’s name on stage when he introduced her as “Adele Dazeem” to the audience.

The very memorable incident has stayed with her ever since, and the Long Island native admitted that her evening was complete in the “eight seconds after he screwed up my name.”

“First, I felt really sorry for myself, like Meryl Streep’s out there, this is my big break and he just f–ked up my name,” she told James Corden on “The Late Late Show” segment “Carpool Karaoke.”

“I had eight seconds to say to myself, first, I felt really sorry for myself,” Menzel added. “And then eight seconds the band starts, I was like, ‘Get yourself together, stop worrying that he messed up your name, sing b—h!'”

Her “Cinderella” co-stars, Billy Porter and Camila Cabello, were also in the car. The “Pose” star then interjected, “Sing! And you did! I was watching.”

The “Rent” singer continued: “I was so nervous, I had meditated on this moment, I was going to sing to my son to really bring perspective to everything and then that happened.

idina menzel
Menzel performed “Let It Go” from “Frozen” at the 2014 Oscars. Getty Images

“It was the greatest thing that ever happened,” she said. “He’s written so many nice, apologetic emails. He’s so kind. To make up for it, he would just fly wherever at this point, he’s so sweet. I just always say, ‘No worries because it was the best thing that ever happened!'”

The “Grease” actor apologized in a statement at the time, saying “I’ve been beating myself up all day. Then I thought, what would Idina Menzel say? She’d say, let it go, let it go!”

He continued: “Idina is incredibly talented and I am so happy ‘Frozen’ took home two Oscars Sunday night!” The Disney film won Oscars for Best Animated Film and Best Original Song at the 86th Academy Awards.

However, Menzel’s time on “The Late Late Show” wasn’t the only time she spoke about the incident. Back in 2016, the Broadway star appeared at a panel at the Tribeca Film Festival, where she also exclaimed that the moment was the “best thing that ever happened to me.

“The honest truth? Right when it was happening, I was like, ‘What the f–k did he just say?’” Menzel joked. “Get over yourself. You’re so vain and conceited. Just go. Sing. Like, Meryl Streep is there. That’s the whole thing that went on, about eight seconds to get myself back in the zone.”