DJ Khaled stumbled over his speech at Paley Center for Media’s gala celebrating music in television on Tuesday night while trying to pronounce one of the most famous dance crazes of the 1990s.
“And who can forget the number-one smash, uh, I hope I’m saying this right, um, Ma … Macarena,” the 42-old record producer said, accidentally pronouncing the first syllable like the mac in “mac and cheese.”
“You know what I’m saying. You know I’m an honest guy. It’s prompter speak,” he continued of the Los Del Rio song while introducing a clip of classic music videos on television from the Paley archives. “Thanks to the video everyone was doing that … and dancing with Hillary Clinton at the 1996 Democrat National Convention.”
The crowd was still laughing as he went on to mispronounce Psy’s viral music video for “Gangnam Style,” calling it “Gangdom Style.” He added, “By Ci, C-I, am I saying that right?” When an audience member corrected him he quickly said, “Oh Psy … Psy.”
Luckily, he had no trouble talking about his friend and “Despacito” singer Luis Fonsi or Beyoncé.
Also attending the event at Cipriani Wall Street in New York were Mandy Moore, Connie Britton, Jimmy Fallon, Art Garfunkel and Fergie, who rode the subway during Tuesday’s rain storm to get to the event on time.