Mike Posner’s odd behavior makes waves at Grammy show

Mike Posner didn’t win the Song of the Year award he was up for at Sunday’s Grammys — just like Beyonce, he lost to Adele — but the Southfield native made news for his bizarre behavior on the red carpet that had some wondering if he was still feeling the effects of that pill he took in Ibiza.

Posner walked the red carpet with his pal Blackbear, his musical partner in the duo Mansionz. They wore matching slime-green hair, looking like cousins of Jared Leto’s Joker character in “Suicide Squad,” and caused shenanigans up and down the entrance way into the show.

In a live interview with Billboard.com, Posner and Blackbear shouted “Mansionz!” as the answer to the most of the questions they were asked. At one point they were seen sitting down on the red carpet, thumbing through their phones and either taking pictures of themselves or of Demi Lovato, who stood stoically a few feet away.

But the most puzzling interaction was aired live on E! in a pre-show interview with co-host Giuliana Rancic.

When cameras cut to Posner and Blackbear they were chatting amongst themselves, and Rancic asked them what they were talking about. A glazed looking Posner refused to talk to Rancic and instead spoke his answers into the ear of Blackbear, who acted as his mouthpiece.

An odd exchange about Rancic’s marital status ensued, and in an attempt to forward the conversation, Rancic asked if Posner always has “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” stuck in his head. “I have Song of the Year next year stuck in my head,” he told Blackbear, who relayed the answer to Rancic. “What’s that one?” she asked, and Posner, who wore pink nail polish on his fingers, mimed his head exploding as the answer. After that, she couldn’t end the segment quickly enough.

Weird things happen on awards show red carpets all the time — CeeLo Green showed up to the Grammys looking like a metallic version of WWE grappler Goldust — but the Posner incident was especially strange, and drew criticism and ridicule online. (Posner and Blackbear played a similar game of telephone on the Grammy.com pre-show with host Quudus.)

“Hey @MikePosner — You’re a (expletive) moron. You’re lucky anyone even WANTS to talk to you, so try not being an (expletive),” tweeted Los Angeles morning radio show The Woody Show, along with a clip of the E! interview. Posner retweeted the post, along with the message, “thank u so much 4 the support,” and also Instagrammed two screencaps of the Rancic interview, captioning them with lime green gun emojis and the @mansionz Instagram handle.

Posner’s behavior was jarring to followers because it’s in strict opposition to “I Took a Pill in Ibiza,” which acted as an image cleanse for the singer. He authored online posts about the importance of authenticity and his unwillingness to wear makeup in photo shoots, rules he didn’t seem to be adhering to at the show.

Best guess is it was all a promotional stunt for Mansionz, whose debut album “Mansionz Greatest Hitz” is due out next month. “Trend #mansionz,” Posner wrote on Twitter at about 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, right around the time the E! interview transpired.

Talking last week with the News, Posner described Mansionz — the duo has released two singles, the acoustic kiss-offs “stfu” and “Rich White Girls” — as an artistic escape from his solo output.

“As an artist, it’s such a fun project to be involved in,” said Posner, adding his green-dyed hair is part of the Mansionz project. “Anything that I don’t do in Mike Posner world, I can do (in Mansionz), and it’s sort of a blank check in that it’s not Mike Posner. I can play characters and let different parts of my personality come through. It’s really fun.”

That’s probably how the Grammy stunt was supposed to come off, but clearly not everyone was in on the joke.

agraham@detroitnews.com

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@grahamorama