Yahoo Movies Kathy Hilton apologizes for viral lipstick moment during Mariska Hargitay's award speech
Kathy Hilton learned the hard way that you don't disrespect Capt. Olivia Benson.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star has apologized publicly and privately for the viral moment in which she was caught on camera applying lipstick during Mariska Hargitay's stirring acceptance speech at the People's Choice Awards on Tuesday — while sharing the stage with the Law & Order: SVU star.
"I adore and I respect Mariska very much, and I already had reached out to her, DMed her, I want to get her address," Hilton told Extra. "I feel terrible." She added, "I would never do anything to be rude intentionally, and I'm really sorry."
Hilton also offered an explanation for the mishap, which had drawn criticism on social media. "I actually thought I was going to sneeze," she said, "and you don't want to hear me sneeze. It's the loudest sneeze that you've ever heard in your life. And I was looking for a tissue, and I didn't have a tissue or a hanky, so I got a little nervous, and I just put some lipstick on, but it was during her speech, so I thought… the camera's not going to be on me. I didn't think that I was in that shot."
Hargitay delivered her heartfelt speech after being named drama TV star of 2022 at the PCAs. "I love this award so much because of the two words in it," she said. "The word, of course, the first word is 'people.' And that's people from all origins and all ethnicities and all creeds, and all genders and all identity that make this whole glorious mix of all of us."
She continued, "The second word, and that's even more important, is 'choice.' So I just want to celebrate our ability in all of us, the willingness in all of us to choose kindness, and compassion and courage and to choose to listen and to learn and to build a bridge between our differences and our divides."
Watch Hargitay's speech and Hilton's apology above.
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