Watching Jerry From ‘Cheer’ Get Mat-Talked On The Oscars Red Carpet Will Make Your Heart Swell
Laura Dern is a HUGE fan, and while Al Pacino and Brad Pitt clearly have no idea who he is, they're won over pretty quickly.
Jerry Harris, the utterly charming ‘mat-talker’ from Netflix’s reality show Cheer, was sent to the Oscars red carpet by The Ellen Show, proving that so-so people can facilitate transcendent moments.
Harris is the ‘break-out’ star of Cheer, Neftlix’s six-part series following the cheerleading team from Navarro College in Texas as they work towards Daytona, the annual national cheerleading competition.
Enthusiastic doesn’t even begin to describe Harris: even when he’s ‘off-mat’ (aka not in the routine), he’s the most energetic member of the team, cheering on his friends with infectiously optimistic affirmations, aka ‘mat talk’. Add to that a moving backstory and a resilience throughout the season’s ups and downs, and it’s not surprising we’re all just a little obsessed.
Turns out that celebrities are just like us, as the likes of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Greta Gerwig, Laura Dern, Kathy Bates and a heap more all freaked out when meeting Harris on the Oscars red carpet. They more or less end up mat-cheering Harris, particuarly Dern.
“Jerry! Jerry!,” she says in the most Laura Dern way possible, with more hand movements than should be humanely possible. “This is what I want to say to you: you can do this! You’ve got this! ‘Cuz my daughter was giving me some mat talk as I was arriving in the car and we love you and love your big beautiful heart.”
Dern then stands behind Greta Gerwig, her director in Little Women, watching with all smiles as Gerwig says she always watches Harris while breast-pumping for her near-one year old son, Harold.
Meanwhile, Kathy Bates bows down, Regina King gives him a hi-5, and Uncut Gems star Idina Menzel demands he mat-talk her when she’d later perform the Frozen theme on-stage. Even Billie Eilish — who spent most of the Oscars pretty confused — was very, very excited.
Al Pacino and Brad Pitt both absolutely have no idea who he is, but we’ll forgive them: Harris, understandably, gets a little flustered around Pitt and just starts flirting with him. Shoot your shot.
Watch the full video, also featuring Scar-Jo, Rebel Wilson and Renée Zellweger, below.