Yes, she can! Nicole Kidman, who became the subject of countless memes for her odd-looking clapping at the 2017 Oscars, proved that she does indeed know how to clap during a Tuesday, May 9, appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Check it out in the clip above.
When DeGeneres asked Kidman, 49, about the awkward moment, the Big Little Lies star was quick to defend herself. “I don’t clap like that! I do not clap like that,” she said with a laugh as the clip played on a big screen behind her. “That is a weird lens. OK, can you get that off?!”
However, DeGeneres noted that the camera didn’t have the same effect on other Oscars guests, including Kidman’s date for the night, husband Keith Urban. “The lens didn’t do it to anybody else’s fingers,” the Finding Dory voice actress said. “How can you make any noise like that? You’re not even really clapping.”
That’s when Kidman explained the reasoning behind her delicate, seal-like clapping. “Because I borrowed — it’s the Cinderella thing — you borrow these expensive jewels and I’m like, ‘I must not damage these diamonds because I have to give them back at midnight!’” she recounted. “And so I’m, like, clapping [like that] … And they went back beautifully intact, not a scratch on them.”
The Aussie actress added, “‘Cause Keith’s like, ‘Do not damage the diamonds!’”
Out of curiosity, DeGeneres asked Kidman what her clapping looks like without all the jewelry. “I’ve worked on it,” Kidman said with a smile, before demonstrating some less cringeworthy claps.
