14 DAY TRIAL // At last Sunday’s Oscars 2015, John Travolta managed to make a fool of himself again by getting too touchy-feely and creepy with two of the female stars he came into contact with on camera, Scarlett Johansson and Idina Menzel.
The awkward Scarlett Johansson kiss is already a hot meme, but that doesn’t mean that the way Travolta touched Idina’s face on stage, during their presenting gig, was any less awkward. But it wasn’t a spontaneous thing, his rep says.
“It was rehearsed in total”
Idina and John reunited on stage to introduce John Legend and Common for a live performance of their “Selma” song, “Glory.” They joked about John’s flub of last year, when he introduced Idina as Adele Dazeem, and she got her revenge by introducing him as Glom Gazingo.
However, that wasn’t the most awkward part, as you can also see from the video below. Glom Gazingo laughed off the new name saying he definitely deserved it, and then proceeded to touch Idina’s face repeatedly for a few seconds too long, to the point where she seemed on the point of slapping it off.
She didn’t, but the people watching at home had already noticed the awkwardness of the situation and had taken to Twitter to roast Travolta.
It’s a shame that they did, his rep says for Us Weekly, because he did nothing more than what was written in the script.
“It was rehearsed in total,” the publicist says. “John Travolta loved working with Idina Menzel. John had a great time at the Oscars because his wife, Kelly Preston, and his daughter, Ella, were in attendance with him.”
John Travolta’s explanation
This isn’t the only explanation of the awkward face-touching we have: right after the gala and before the afterparties, Travolta stopped by Jimmy Kimmel’s show to talk about last year’s flub and the buzz around this year’s appearance.
He doesn’t say exactly why he thought touching Idina’s face as much as he did would be a good idea (video below), but he laughs off the whole thing, implying that people are making too much fuss around a friendly gesture.
It’s not a very convincing explanation, just like his publicist’s isn’t either. If the face-touching had been in the script and done in rehearsals, Idina’s face wouldn’t have betrayed frustration and annoyance the way it did, wouldn’t you agree?
It sounds like John Travolta is desperate to save face after a bout of very negative media attention. Ironically, he’s only making it worse on himself.
#Scientology is now officially asking #JohnTravolta to leave their church! #Oscars
— Perez Hilton (@PerezHilton) February 23, 2015
WHAT IS HAPPENING #JohnTravolta #AdeleDazeem #Oscars
— People magazine (@peoplemag) February 23, 2015
Um. Keep your hands to yourself, John Travolta. #creepyunclejohn
— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) February 23, 2015
Guess Travolta was just taking a leaf out of Joe Biden's book. #CreepyUncleJohn #JustSaying #GetIt #Oscars2015
— Nikhil कुलकर्णी (@VocabSahab) February 23, 2015
The bit payed off a little. So much face-touching!! #Oscars #creepyunclejohn
— Tessa Streck (@tessak17) February 23, 2015