The Grinch and Cindy-Lou Who… grunge fans?
Jim Carrey and his How the Grinch Stole Christmas costar Taylor Momsen showed off their hard-rock bona fides when they reunited at the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony this weekend to celebrate their mutual love for Seattle legends Soundgarden.
Carrey presented the honor to them in a moving speech, while Momsen performed their 1992 song “Rusty Cage” with the band’s remaining members and then joined several other special guests — including Brandi Carlile, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains — for an impressive rendition of their 1994 hit “Black Hole Sun.”
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Their participation in the tribute marked Carrey and Momsen’s first time reuniting for a big public outing in 25 years. They met on the set of The Grinch, in which the Carrey portrayed the titular Christmas-hating curmudgeon and the Gossip Girl actress played Cindy-Lou Who, the sweet little Whoville girl who helps open the Grinch’s heart. The momentous occasion was timely, as Momsen recently recalled how she didn’t know what Carrey actually looked like when they worked together because he was buried under a ton of prosthetic makeup.
During the Nov. 8 ceremony, Momsen, who was only 7 years old when she filmed The Grinch, shared some of her favorite memories of making the movie with PEOPLE, expressing how working with Carrey left a “lasting impact” on her.
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“I just love that he was very protective of me,” she said. “He was always very kind. And just the entire experience of filming Grinch and getting to know him so well, even in all the makeup, was just wonderful.”
Carrey helped welcome Soundgarden into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Lily Cornell Silver, the daughter of the group’s late frontman, Chris Cornell. The rock star died by suicide in 2017 at the age of 52.
In his remarks, the Ace Ventura actor praised Soundgarden for having “resurrected rock & roll for me” in the late 1980s and early ’90s. He remembered how he felt watching them perform their 1996 song “Pretty Noose” during his first time hosting Saturday Night Live, adding that he requested them as the musical guests for that episode.
“I stood right in front of them, letting the waves of electricity wash over me like an audio baptism,” Carrey recalled. “They pushed me under, and when I came up, I was free.”
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Surviving Soundgarden members Matt Cameron, Kim Thayil, and Ben Shepherd, alongside original bassist Hiro Yamamoto, collected their awards for the induction after their performance. Following their speeches, Cornell’s other daughter, Toni Cornell, performed her own tribute to the band and her late father, singing their 1994 track “Fell on Black Days.”
Other inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year included Outkast, the White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, and Bad Company.
