We have an incredible new entry in the pantheon of hilariously bad quiz answers. 

A clip from the U.S. revival of Weakest Link – hosted by Glee icon Jane Lynch – went viral this week for all the wrong reasons.

The question posed to our protagonist Sean seemed simple enough: “Martin Scorsese has nine Oscar nominations for directing, but his only win was for what movie?”

A puzzled look upon his face, Sean panics and answers, “I’m going to have to guess 8 Mile.” You know 8 Mile, the famous movie all about Eminem? It definitely wasn’t directed by Martin Scorsese.

Looking very much like your mum finding out your high school exam results, Lynch then tells Sean the right answer. “The correct answer is The Departed. He won the Oscar in 2006.” “Good to know,” Sean says quietly with a sadness in his eyes that only a man who knows he’s about to go viral would have.

8 Mile was actually directed by Curtis Hanson, who had some big hits in the 90s with films like L.A. Confidential and The Hand that Rocks the Cradle but hasn’t been doing much since.

Scorsese finally earned his elusive Oscar for The Departed, but many believed it was the wrong movie of his to win Best Director (a similar situation to when Leonardo DiCaprio finally won Best Actor for the tiresome slugfest The Revenant): Raging Bull and Goodfellas were both previously nominated and are arguably much better works than The Departed.

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And somehow I doubt Scorsese would have had any interest in making a movie about Slim Shady. Remember his extremely bored reaction to Eminem when the rapper made a surprise appearance at the 2020 Oscars to perform ‘Lose Yourself’? That was one of 8 Mile‘s signature tunes after all.

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