There were plenty of memorable highlights at the 2026 Grammy Awards on Sunday night.
But there was one moment that music legend Cher would probably rather forget.
Before presenting the award for Record of the Year, Cher delivered a speech about her career and the Lifetime Achievement Grammy she’d received the day before.
“I don’t do this part very well,” she began, adding:
“I first want to thank the Recording Academy for giving me this lifetime achievement award. And it’s a good thing that they did it now, because I have good genes and I wouldn’t have been here that much longer.”
“I’ve been in this business for 60 f–king years, but I just want to tell you, never give up on your dream, no matter what happens. Live it, be it, and if it’s not happening now, it will happen soon.”
At that point, Cher began to wrap things up.
“That’s all I have to say,” she concluded, while looking around the stage in apparent confusion. “I guess I’m supposed to walk off now. All right, I have to walk off.”
Yes, she seemed to have forgotten that she was supposed to present an award. Thankfully, host Trevor Noah was able to call her back to the stage in time.
“Cher, before you go, could we get you to announce the nominees?” Noah shouted as she walked off stage.
“I could do it, but it’s not the same. I don’t have the track record. Welcome back Cher, everybody.”
Crisis averted. But the awkward moments weren’t over.
First, Cher was unaware that she needed to open the envelope in her hand in order to find out who won.
She explained that she thought the winner’s name would appear on the teleprompter. Understandable.
But then the situation deteriorated further when Cher announced that the winner was Luther Vandross.
Vandross, of course, passed away in 2005, and Record of the Year was actually won by Kendrick Lamar for his song “Luther.” Whoops.
Thankfully, the recipients were able to find the humor in the situation.
“First and foremost,” producer Sounwave said while accepting the award, “let’s give a shout out to the late great Luther Vandross.”
Any single one of those flubs could have happened to anyone. But the fact that so many of them took place in such rapid succession created concern among some viewers.
“Cher needs to be checked for earlier dementia. Mama is all over the place,” one X user wrote (via Radar Online).
“Somebody please check Cher in for a dementia check please, she is stressing me out,” another added.
The fact is, Cher is 79 years old, and live TV is always a high-wire act.
There’s no real reason to be worried about her cognitive health — so maybe we should all just be grateful for the unintentional comedy.