Publicity stunts are pretty weird. They’re even weirder when they don’t really work, like, at all. We’re talking to you, Aubrey Plaza.
For those of you who are actual adults, you probably didn’t watch the “MTV Movie Awards” on Sunday. The most exciting part, according to the Internet, wasn’t even an actual moment from the awards show. That moment was “The Hunger Games” preview for “Catching Fire.”
Plaza’s small stint during the awards show is one of the only things people are talking about — besides Perez Hilton’s outfit.
She spent her time “bum-rushing the stage in the middle of Will Ferrell’s acceptance speech for his Comedic Genius Golden Popcorn award,” according to Us Weekly. “In the bizarre bit, the 28-year-old ‘Parks and Recreation’ actress hopped on the stage, barefoot, and grabbed Ferrell’s statue.”
How much of it was planned? How much of it was Ferrell in on beforehand? Once she left the stage, Ferrell said, according to a USA Today article, “Aubrey Plaza, everyone. Just like we rehearsed it. Perfect, it was perfect. Not too long, not too short. Right on the money.”
He honestly didn’t seem to be very in on the joke, however.
Was this entirely unexpected, though? During another MTV awards ceremony, Kanye West infamously interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech.
“In 2009, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, in his guise as flamboyantly gay fashion reporter Bruno, dropped from the ceiling and landed his crotch in the face of rapper Eminem,” said a Los Angeles Times article. “Eminem seemed to not be in on the stunt and got visibly upset, storming out of the auditorium. But Eminem later admitted that he was in on the stunt from the beginning. And writer Scott Aukerman also admitted to having orchestrated the event.”
According to MTV and its official timeline of events, Plaza was escorted out of the event during the next commercial break. When she got back to her seat after the incident, she knocked over whatever was in her cup. Luckily, Ferrell wasn’t too upset by what happened. Plus, we don’t think he takes many things seriously because he wore a suit with a money pattern on it to the awards show.
“I think she wanted to tell me something important, but there was no message,” Ferrell later joked backstage to MTV, according to Us Weekly. “It was just a lot of hot liquor breath. And, then, and a little bit of sweat. And then she ran away. But the ship sailed on.”
“MTV News” confirmed the event was not pre-planned.
So this ended up being just a terrible misstep made by Plaza? She tweeted her thanks to Kanye afterwards, but that doesn’t mean her interruption went off as well as his did.
She wrote #TheToDoList across her chest in some sort of marker, but we don’t think anyone noticed that bit of information because we were all so busy trying to figure out what she was actually doing.
She did it during a not-very-popular awards show, and she’s normally very collected as an individual.
Don’t mess up your sweet “Parks and Recreation” gig, girl.
