Did John Stamos Mean To Screw Up During His 'Little Mermaid Live' Performance?
By Jeff Mazzeo on November 5, 2019 at 7:22 PM EST
Gettyimages | E! Entertainment
John Stamos was one of the highlights of Disney's "Little Mermaid Live" but his big musical number ended with an NSFW bang.
The star played Chef Louis and his performance of the song, “Les Poissons” was almost perfect until the star made a mistake at the very end of his routine but did he do it on purpose?
As the song was winding down the camera pulled in on Stamos who joked, "I knew I should have played Prince Albert," before quickly correcting himself to say, Prince Eric. He tried to recover but the damage was already done.
ABC
Fans did not miss a beat by pointing out that the term Prince Albert is not just the wrong name for the character in the Disney flick. It is actually a reference to a piercing of a man's nether regions. Many fans on social media were confused by his remark and wondered if it was done on purpose or if it was a Freudian slip.
"I almost thought he was talking about the piercing," a fan on Twitter said while another commented, "Pretty sure John Stamos threw in a genital piercing “Prince Albert” reference lol."
Many were shocked, confused and some were a little upset that the flub went down on a Disney show. "John Stamos weird Prince Albert shout-out....... Uhhhh this supposed to be for kids!!!!" It is still unclear if Stamos meant to say it or if it was just a funny mistake. Unfortunately, ABC cut the flub out of the version the put on YouTube.
Despite the weird piercing reference at the end, John did a really good job. His voice was on point and he interacted with dozens of cast members dressed as crabs. The song provided a nice comical break from the emotional transformation when Ariel ditches her fins for legs thanks to the help of the evil sea witch, Ursula.
Ursula was portrayed by Queen Latifah and it is no secret that she is an amazing performer. Her voice sounded the best and her costume was the most elaborate with the exception of Ariel, played by Auli'i Cravalho.
ABC
Auli'i Cravalho did a fantastic job and carried the heaviest load during the live performance. The costume and make-up department deserves an award for making her look like Ariel from the original animated movie.
Cravalho, who voiced "Moana" in the 2016 movie, sounded amazing and even got the stamp of approval from Jodi Benson, the original voice of Ariel. Benson opened up the live broadcast by reminding the audience that it has been 30 years since the animated movie fist hit the box office.
"Little Mermaid Live" received harsh criticism as soon as it aired. Many "experts" did not think the blending of live-action and the original animated film worked. To be fair, it was confusing at times to keep up with the movie as it switched from full screen to a wide shot of the theater where the actors were singing live. Perhaps the biggest problem with the production was the audio. At several points of the show, it was difficult to hear the performers over the roar of the live audience. At the end of the day, many fans and critics thought the live performances were forced into an already great movie but hey it gives us something to talk about.
