A Spanish-language ESPYs presentation from Marcello Hernández took an unexpected turn Wednesday night when Will Ferrell volunteered to serve as his decidedly unqualified translator.
Hernández said it was important for him to represent the Latino community whenever possible, and announced that he would present an award entirely in Spanish—a first in ESPYs history. But because he didn’t want anyone in the audience to feel left out, he asked whether someone could translate.
Ferrell quickly offered his services.
“Are you sure, Will Ferrell?” Hernández asked. “You speak Spanish?”
“Yeah, sure,” Ferrell replied, explaining that he had appeared in “a little Spanish film called Talladega Nights.”
That probably should have been Hernández’s first warning.
Once Hernández began speaking Spanish, Ferrell launched into an increasingly personal—and entirely invented—translation. According to Ferrell, the Saturday Night Live cast member was telling the audience that he grew up in Miami without many friends, befriended neighborhood stray dogs, and engaged in some ill-advised experimentation with an electrical outlet.
“I didn’t even talk for that long,” Hernández protested.
“Hey, I’m just translating,” Ferrell said. “I translate what I hear. I don’t know why you’re being so revealing to this audience.”
The translation deteriorated further when Ferrell suddenly refused to repeat Hernández’s supposed remarks.
“These are good people. I will not translate that,” Ferrell declared. “How dare you?”
Hernández finally gave up on the arrangement, telling Ferrell that it wasn’t going to work.
“I don’t speak real Spanish,” Ferrell admitted. “I speak break-dance Spanish. It’s a dialect.”
Hernández gave him one last assignment: introduce Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo and rapper French Montana. Ferrell delivered the introduction in seemingly flawless Spanish.
“Where the hell did that come from?” Hernández asked.
Watch the full bit at the top of this post.
