Cher caused an unexpected stir at the 2026 Grammy Awards when she briefly walked off stage and then mistakenly announced the late Luther Vandross as the winner of Record of the Year, which actually went to Kendrick Lamar and SZA for their song 'Luther'.
The pop icon was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award by host Trevor Noah at Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena. After her acceptance speech, she turned to leave, but Noah coaxed her into staying to announce the final prize of the night.
Returning to the microphone, Cher opened the envelope and declared Luther Vandross the winner, before realising her error and correcting herself. Lamar, who had won four awards that night, took the mix-up in good humour, acknowledging that his winning song was named after Vandross.
During his acceptance speech, Lamar paid tribute to Vandross and Cheryl Lynn, whose duet 'If This World Were Mine' was sampled in the track. He noted that the clearance for the sample was emotional for his team, and he ended his speech with "Luther forever."
Earlier, Cher had joked about her longevity, saying: "It's a good thing they did it now because I have good genes and I wouldn't have been here that much longer."
