Mariah Carey Blames It on the Alcohol

Mariah Carey says "splashes of champagne" and the bad influence of her Precious director, Lee Daniels, are to blame for her loopy, at times incoherent acceptance speech for Best Breakthrough Performance at the Palm Springs International Film Festival over the weekend.

"We were really celebrating for [Precious]," she said.

Carey said the alcohol sneaks up on you at those big events and that she had spent the evening palling around with Daniels, whom she says she hadn't seen for a while.

The gay director and the singer were both nominated for NAACP Awards, for Best Director and Best Supporting actress, respectfully, on Wednesday. The film swept the nominations, racking up eight nods.

Watch Carey's much-buzzed-about speech here.