New year, same clap! Nicole Kidman left millions confused after she demonstrated an odd clapping technique at the 2017 Oscars. The Big Little Lies actress, 51, stood up to give Viola Davis a round of applause as the How to Get Away With Murder star won for best supporting actress for her role in Fences, but all people could see was the awkward way Kidman put her hands together. While most people applaud with their hands partially clasped, the Top of the Lake alum extended her fingers fully and only touched her palms together.
The Aquaman star later explained that her Grinch-like clapping style is not something that happens often, but was rather a result of a very hefty piece of jewelry on her finger. “It was really awkward,” she admitted during an Australian radio interview. “I was like, ‘I wanna clap, I don’t wanna not be clapping’ — that’d be worse, right? Like ‘Why isn’t Nicole clapping?’ So therefore I’m clapping but it was really difficult because I had a huge ring on that was not mine — but it was absolutely gorgeous — and I was terrified of damaging it.”
Kidman went a step further when she appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in March 2017 and showed host Ellen DeGeneres that she knows how to clap normally. “I don’t clap like that! I do not clap like that,” she told the comedian at the time.
While the Boy Erased actress was definitely embarrassed by her unique clapping demonstration, the technique did its job. She added on the talk show, “[The jewels] went back beautifully intact, not a scratch on them.”
Watch the video above to revisit the hilarious examples of Kidman seal-clapping in the past!
