The premise for an interlude at the Oscars was simple: Questlove played a song and a chosen celebrity had to guess if the tune was ever nominated for or won an Oscar.
The game, run by 鈥淛udas and the Black Messiah鈥� actor Lil Rel Howery towards the end of the Oscars live show, featured Andra Day, Daniel Kaluuya and Glenn Close.
When it was Close鈥檚 turn, E.U.鈥檚 鈥淒a Butt鈥� played for a few seconds. Howery expressed doubt that Close would know the song, but she proved him wrong.
She knew the song鈥檚 name, who wrote it, what movie it was in and the backstory on why it wasn鈥檛 nominated.
鈥淲ait a second. Wait a second. That鈥檚 Da Butt,鈥� Close exclaimed in what surely was a scripted moment. 鈥淚t was a classic song by the great Washington, D.C. go-go band E.U. Shoutouts to Sugar Bear and the Backyard Band and the whole DMV.鈥�
And when Howery asked her if she knew the dance, she jumped out of her seat and gyrated accordingly, instantly making it one of the most talked about moments from the historic 2021 Oscars.
鈥淭his is the Blackest Oscars of all time, y'all,鈥� Howery joked.
Spike Lee had the song written for his 1988 film 鈥淪chool Daze,鈥� but 鈥渕y friends at the Oscars missed it,鈥� said Close, who was bleeped when expressing her disappointment about its lack of a nomination.
Day won her music trivia test for Prince's 鈥淧urple Rain鈥� and also got bleeped in the process, guessing correctly that it was never nominated or won an Oscar. The film's score, yes. The song, no.
Kaluuya failed with Donna Summer's 鈥淟ast Dance.鈥� It won an Oscar. He said otherwise, with Close joking he was too young to recall the Summer era.
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For complete coverage of this year鈥檚 Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards
The Associated Press
