Jennifer Hudson crashed the California wedding of one lucky fan with a musical performance.
Ahead of the season two premiere of The Jennifer Hudson Show, the show shared a clip of Hudson revealing that she surprised a couple on their wedding day in Los Angeles with a performance of her 2008 song “Giving Myself.”
At the start of the video, Hudson told viewers: “We are here today at Traci and Pat’s wedding reception. I’m here to surprise them. They have no idea that I am here. I got this huge performance plan for them. The mama don’t even know, the family don’t know. Don’t nobody know nothing!”
The clip then showed Hudson being told by her team that the happy couple is up on the roof taking pictures, allowing her team enough time to set up the surprise. When the couple was brought down to the reception, they were shocked.
“Where’s everybody,” the groom said as the bride gasped: “What in the world?” They proceeded to walk through a romantic, purple-lit hallway decorated with flowers.
Once they reached the end, they found all of their guests crowding around a stage with a curtain hiding Hudson. As they made their way to the front, the curtain dropped, unveiling the Academy Award-nominated singer.
“Congratulations, Tracy and Pat,” Hudson said as the couple and the guests screamed with surprise and excitement. “And to all of y’all, this is for you!” She then began to give a sweet performance of “Giving Myself” in honour of the newly married couple, with a band consisting of singers, a drummer, a pianist, and a guitarist.
For the occasion, the American Idol alum wore a red off-shoulder gown with a thigh-slit.
The wholesome wedding serenade wasn’t the only reveal Hudson made on The Jennifer Hudson Show, with her top songs of the summer including Usher’s “Boyfriend” in honour of his Vegas residency. Hudson hilariously noted that while she would love to see him on stage, the last thing she wants to do is be forced to dance on stage. “Usher be out there skating, then he get his little moonwalk on and dancing. That’s not my department,” she told viewers.
While the second season of Hudson’s talk show was originally set to air on 18 September, CBS reportedly decided to hold off in light of the uproar against the return of Drew Barrymore’s talk show amid the WGA strike. After announcing that her talk show would begin filming despite the strike, Barrymore wrote on Instagram of the decision, “I own this choice.”
Barrymore received swift backlash from the public, which intensified after two audience members were ejected from the first taping for wearing pins and t-shirts that supported both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
In a since-deleted apology video, she said: “I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today. We really tried to find our way forward.”
On 24 September, after 146 days of labour stoppage, the ongoing WGA strike reached its close. All writer’s rooms for talk shows and tv shows are set to resume.
