Meryl Streep’s awkward encounter with Mariah Carey: “Bitch stole my seat”
Meryl Streep could order a Whopper from McDonald’s and get one. The star is one of the biggest names in acting history, having commanded Hollywood for decades with no signs of backing off. She is the most nominated actor in Oscars history, being acknowledged 21 times and picking up three statuettes across her career. She also seems to be a genuinely nice person. Well, unless you ask Katharine Hepburn.
As well as dominating the Academy, Streep has also been recognised by various other award bodies. She’s triumphed twice at the Baftas and three times at the Emmys, and she has been nominated for both a Tony and a Grammy, although she has sadly yet to complete the coveted EGOT. She’s also a frequent visitor to the Golden Globes, which includes being present at the 2018 ceremony. This is where she had an unfortunate run-in with one of pop music’s biggest names.
Speaking to Jimmy Kimmel on his talk show, Streep was asked about the rumour that Mariah Carey had taken her seat at the event. The star confirmed this was the case, simply stating, “Bitch stole my seat.” She then jokingly accused the singer of “sucking up” to Steven Spielberg, who had the next seat over. “She says, ‘Oh my God, they made me sit down, because we were moving,’” Streep revealed, not sounding best pleased about the whole thing.
It later emerged that Streep, who was up for the ‘Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama’ prize for her role in Spielberg’s movie The Post, had gone to the toilet. In that time, Carey had come over to speak to the director, whose table also included his wife Kate Capshaw, Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson, producers Amy Pascal and Kristie Macosko Krieger, and 20th Century Fox CEO Stacey Snider. Unfortunately, Carey got caught out when the show was due to come back from commercials. When Streep returned, she found that she had been surreptitiously replaced.
It’s only fair that the Grammy-winning diva get to share her side of the story, which she did via Twitter (as it would have been known at the time). “Got caught mingling on the way to the loo during a commercial break.. took the first seat available, happens to be right next to Steven Spielberg,” Carey explained. “Cut to next commercial break, guess who comes back to her seat…” The next tweet then saw Mariah begging Meryl for forgiveness, claiming that she could “take my seat anytime!”
Interestingly, if Carey hadn’t taken Streep’s seat, chances are somebody else would have. Big awards shows like the Golden Globes and Oscars employ people called ‘seat fillers’ for this exact reason. If a star is absent from their chair for some reason – they’ve left to go to the toilet, are caught in a conversation, or are up collecting their award – then this random individual will step in and plug the gap. This is so that there aren’t any empty seats on the TV broadcast.
Hopefully, Streep wasn’t too angry with Carey for this transgression, and it was all just a big misunderstanding. Given that the superstar is due to play Aslan in the upcoming ‘Narnia’ reboots, that is somebody you don’t want to get on the wrong side of.
