It looks like Prince William just had his own "Adele Dazeem" moment. The prince was tasked with giving a short speech before presenting Michael Phelps with a lifetime achievement award at the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year awards this weekend.
"'Your 23 gold medals pale into sheer superhuman history," the British royal told Phelps nonsensically, according to The Daily Mail. His missteps continued when he assured Phelps, "'It'll be many, many years before, if ever, anyone stands here again and calls you the greatest athlete in history." Though the Olympian seemed to take the remarks in stride, Twitter trolls didn't let the Prince off so easily. "Phelps spoke better than Prince "erm" William!," tweeted one less than impressed viewer. "That was a shocking speech from Prince William!! Didn't sound like he knew what he was on about," another Twitter user wrote.
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Phelps spoke better than Prince "erm" William! #SPOTY #SPOTY2016
— Mr Anti-Social! (@mrsociable123) December 18, 2016
Prince William ????? but he should hv learned his lines better ? #SPOTY2016
— Federer Forever (@lizziefjs) December 18, 2016
Love @MichaelPhelps just schooled Prince William in public speaking. What a contrast! Lovely & humble speech by Phelps #SPOTY #SPOTY2016
— lucy vincent (@LucyRV) December 18, 2016
That was a shocking speech from Prince William!! Didn't sound like he knew what he was on about #SPOTY #SPOTY2016 ?
— Emma Glover (@emsyglover29) December 18, 2016
Prince William obviously wrote his Michael Phelps speech using the William Burroughs cut-up technique. #SPOTY
— Leighton Guevara (@LeightonGuevara) December 18, 2016
Still, Prince William shouldn't stress about the award show flub. If John Travolta can get past his mistake, Prince George and Princess Charlotte's dad will be able to put this behind him, too.