Terrence Howard Does His Best To Explain His Oscar Meltdown

One of the big stories to come out of the Oscars was Terrence Howard’s extremely emotional speech. It was a moment that seemed to go on for far too long, as he spoke about the film nominees for Best Picture. While he bewildered audience members and viewers, it made for terrific gossip the day after the ceremony.

Now the Empire actor is discussing his mini meltdown at the awards show. Howard went on The Tonight Show, and eventually the conversation turned over to his odd display of behavior at the Oscars.

Most wondered if Terrence was drunk, high, or just plain confused, but Howard said it was none of the above.

Howard wanted to memorize his lines so he didn’t have to use the teleprompter, but when he got on stage it was all too much for him.

“I’ve got Meryl Streep. I’ve got all these dope — the best actors in the world, and they’re up there reading the teleprompter, doing 19, 20 impersonations of reading the teleprompter. I said, ‘man I can memorize this. Watch this.’… I’ve worked 18 hours to work this out and I’m about to kill it.”

As he hit the stage he said he was star struck by Oprah. Let’s take a minute to talk about how Oprah was a co-star of his in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, and Terrence had no problem talking about her, um, lady parts — for lack of better phrasing — during the press tour. So, it’s hard to imagine Terrence getting up there, seeing Oprah, and losing it.

“I choked!” said the actor. “I thought I had it together and then I hit the microphone — and I was like, ‘maybe nobody noticed?’ ”

Here’s just a taste from the people that noticed.

Travolta and Terrence Howard so need to co host next year – I’m starting a kick starter campaign as we speak to make this happen #Oscars

— Timothy James (@TimothyMariotti) February 23, 2015

Siri, why don’t you care for my needs the way #TerrenceHoward cares for the #Oscars — Jon Hopper (@Hoppalicious) February 23, 2015

If I learned anything from last night’s Oscars, it’s that Terrence Howard has a lot of feelings.

— Not Enough Cooks (@CollinJones) February 23, 2015

Did Terrence Howard get emotional because he thought he was introducing ‘Selma?’ That was painfully awkward to watch. #Oscars #AcademyAwards — Mega Muggins (@MegaMuggins) February 23, 2015

For anyone that missed the awkward moment, here’s a video for your second hand embarrassment.

[Photo by Kevin Winter / Getty Images]