Idina Menzel says John Travolta 'owes her a favour' and has ideas on how he can repay her

Let's hope he practices her name this time
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Megan C. Hills8 November 2019

Broadway legend Idina Menzel was famously renamed by John Travolta at the 2015 Oscars, who accidentally called her Adele Dazeem on live television. Although Menzel has previously said that she’s forgiven John Travolta for the gaffe, she hasn’t forgotten as she said the Grease actor “owes” her a favour - and she has some ideas on how he can pay her back.

Menzel appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! yesterday night alongside her Frozen 2 co-star Kristen Bell, who plays her onscreen sister in the Disney series, and touched on the mistake. The pair are both being honoured with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year and Menzel hinted that she was thinking about who she might choose to present hers.

Menzel said, “I started to get really desperate [thinking about who to choose] and I said to my publicist, ‘You know, John Travolta owes me a favour.’”

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Prior to a live performance of her iconic Frozen anthem Let it Go, Travolta flubbed Menzel’s name after he had missed the backstage memo that Menzel’s name would be spelled phonetically on the Oscars teleprompter. He said following the 2015 incident on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he had been distracted after meeting Goldie Hawn backstage and was confused when he saw Menzel’s name on the teleprompter spelled differently to how he had rehearsed it.

Menzel continued, “I never called in that favour. He apologised to me years ago. He’s like ‘anything you need’ and I never called it in.”

Travolta has previously apologised to Menzel and according to E! Online, he reportedly sent her a bouquet of flowers to the dressing room of her Broadway show If/Then to say sorry for the mistake. A source said at the time that it was “HUGE”.

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Although Menzel may have just been throwing the idea out there, her costar Bell was excited about the prospect. She told Menzel, “You have to do that. You absolutely have to ask him.”

Menzel responded, “He doesn’t even know my name!”

Travolta's 2015 Oscars gaffe wasn't the only hilarious high profile mistake he made at an awards show, as he nearly topped the moment this year at the MTV Video Music Awards this year. When presenting the Video of the Year music award to Taylor Swift, he actually initially tried to hand it to Swift impersonator Jade Jolie - who laughed off the moment. The moment can be seen below.

Menzel and Bell had a busy day on Thursday, as they also attended the premiere of their film Frozen 2 that evening at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The duo were seen laughing and holding hands as they were joined by other A-listers including Evan Rachel Wood, Josh Gad, Sterling K. Brown as well as Selena Gomez and her sister.

Frozen 2 will be released on November 22 in the UK.

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