The Big Mistake Dolly Parton Made At The 2022 ACM Awards Has Everyone Talking

Dolly Parton is making history at the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards in all sorts of ways.

For starters, she happens to be one of the oldest people to ever host a major award show at 76 years old. Billboard notes that the "Jolene" singer is the oldest host in the history of the annual country awards, just like at the CMA Awards, where she also made history as the oldest host in 2019. She was 73 years old at the time. Ahead of the show, she expressed how excited she was to helm the program. "I guess you can say that I like being at the cutting edge of things, so working with this new technology makes sense with that. It's exciting, and I'm looking forward to it," she told The Tennessean, referring to how the show will be live-streamed on Amazon Prime.

Parton didn't waste any time in taking advantage of the opportunity, since she opened the awards night with a tribute to Ukraine. "I don't want to be political and this is not. I'd rather pass a kidney stone than do that. I want us to send our love and hope to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine," the singer said. "Let's dedicate this whole show to them and pray for peace around this crazy world." 

It's safe to say that Parton is a veteran when it comes to hosting, but at the 2022 ACM Awards, she made one misstep that got everyone laughing.

Dolly Parton mispronounced Kelsea Ballerini's name

Dolly Parton and Kelsea Ballerini took the stage at the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards for a show-stopping performance. Ahead of their on-stage collaboration, Ballerini couldn't help but gush over the opportunity to sing with her idol. "She just does it freaking all. She does it with grace and with humor and with poise," she told Access Hollywood. "She's the most role model of role models I can think of."

However, during the show, Parton accidentally referred to Kelsea as "Kelly," which fans found both surprising and hilarious. "Aw Dolly Parton just accidentally called Kelsea Ballerini Kelly, and every girl named Kelsea (Kelsey, Kelsie) has never felt more SEEN," one fan said. "Dolly Parton calling Kelsea Ballerini, Kelly Ballerini! Dolly incorporating Kelly Clarkson and Kelsea lol! I'm sure Kelsea loved it cuz she's a Kelly fan lol!" tweeted another.

We're pretty sure it's an honest mistake, and it may have been because Kelly Clarkson paid tribute to her on the same night by singing "I Will Always Love You." Whatever the case, the performances by Dolly, Kelsea, and Kelly were nothing short of phenomenal!

Steve Harvey knows the feeling of mixing up names all too well

Unfortunately, this wouldn't be the first time an awards show host got a name wrong. Enter: comedian Steve Harvey.

As you may recall, Steve Harvey has hosted many Miss Universe pageants — six to be exact. But it was the 2015 pageant that lives rent-free in so many minds as Harvey mistakenly announced the wrong name as the winner. "It was a painful (expletive) night there, dog. Oh, God. I didn't know the pain I was in. I didn't know how bad the mistake was," Harvey recalled to Kevin Hart during an episode of the "Comedy Gold Minds with Kevin Hart" podcast. Still, he was adamant the gaffe wasn't all his fault, referring to a last-minute change in the process. "Well, in the teleprompter after I announced the second runner-up, the teleprompter said, 'And the new 2015 Miss Universe is...,'" Harvey explained. "The dude in my ear said, 'Read the next name on the card, Steve. Hold, hold, hold.' I looked at the next card. I said, 'Miss Colombia!'" YIKES.

The 2017 Oscars wasn't flub free either

Perhaps the biggest awards show blunder, however, was committed at the 2017 Oscars. 

As reported by USA Today, the awards show had seemingly gone off without a hitch and was well on its way to winding down when someway, somehow presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway got their hands on the wrong envelope and mistakenly announced "La La Land" as the winner for Best Picture instead of "Moonlight." Shortly after the filmmakers had taken to the podium to deliver their victory speeches, "La La Land" producer Jordan Horowitz made a bombshell announcement. "Sorry, guys, hold on. There's a mistake. 'Moonlight' you guys won best picture. This is not a joke." Let the chaos ensue.

Later, the award show's host Jimmy Kimmel tried his best to recover from the on-air goof. "Warren, what did you do?!" he asked before referencing Steve Harvey's famous Miss Universe flub. "Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this," he joked.