HispanicBusiness

A tottering Mariah Carey gave a slurry acceptance speech at an award ceremony last night, prompting many to speculate that she was intoxicated. The 40-year-old pop singer, who also works as an actress, was named Breakthrough Actress at the Palm Springs International Film awards gala for her performance as a social worker in the movie "Precious," about an obese black girl living in Harlem with her dysfunctional family. Before the speech, Carey greeted presenter and "Precious" director Lee Daniels with a slightly too long, feet-off-the-ground hug. Then, in delayed speech, while gazing at her prize, she exclaimed "Oh my goodness!" After losing her train of thought while in an apparent daze, she said: "Please forgive me, because I'm a little bit, um ..." A heckler in the audience member finished the sentence for her with an inaudible comment, to which she answered: "Yeah!" She then gave a rambling speech about the movie, which is based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire.