Zac Efron made a not-so-kid-friendly blunder at the Hollywood premiere of The Lorax Feb. 19 — accidentally dropping a condom on the red carpet for the animated kid flick inspired by Dr. Seuss’ classic book. And the actor finally fessed up to the embarrassing mishap while on the “Today Show” Thursday.

During an awkward interview where the actor was asked about the incident he noted that safe sex was ‘a great message’. The 24-year-old was being interviewed by TODAY‘s Matt Lauer when he laughed off the incident. After discussing the film and working with Taylor Swift, “Today” host Matt Lauer turned the interview over to the unfortunate incident, which was all caught on video. The presenter asked Zac to describe what happened and with raised eyebrows he said that he does not want to take him through it. He confirmed that he did drop a condom onto the red carpet last week at the premiere of “The Lorax.” Zac joked saying that he never really had a pocket checking policy prior to going onto the red carpet but now he has full instated one. And the cheeky High School Musical star even turned the table on the presenter who appeared to stumble on the word ‘condom’. Zac told Lauer that it was really hard for him to say that. He added that promoting safe sex was a great message to add to the many messages of the film.

The incident took place at the premiere of his new Dr. Seuss film, The Lorax at Universal Studios, Hollywood last week. In a video which has now gone viral, Zac is seen approaching a fan to greet them, when he accidentally drops a condom on the red carpet. He swept up the contraceptive immediately, grinning sheepishly and immediately put his sunglasses on as he continued his way. He coughed with and held his hand to his mouth pausing to regroup after the mishap. The actor’s bashful smile and clear embarrassment served as apology enough – though hopefully any youngsters present might not have recognized what they saw. And it appears that the incident has done nothing to diminish his popularity – the star has been enjoying being mobbed by fans in Brazil, South America.

Carpet antics aside, Efron noted that he was especially pleased to have been chosen to play the lead male role of Ted, a 12-year-old boy who pines for an older girl, Audrey, voiced by Taylor Swift, particularly since Theodor Geisel’s (aka Dr. Seuss) wife sent him a letter specifically asking him to take on the role. Zac said that his dad was a huge fan of Dr. Seuss noting that he has got an original copy of “The Lorax: from like 1971 or something like that so he read it to him growing up. He said that it was a big part of his life and his education.

Here are some awesome pictures of Zac Efron. He really looks so absolutely hunky!

The 23-year-old American actor, who is most notable for his portrayal as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical film, was born on October 18, 1987 in San Luis Obispo, California to David Efron and Starla Basket, an electrical engineer and a former secretary of a power plant. Efron, who has a brother named Dylan, was said to be an agnostic and has never been a religious person. He was baptized with the real name of Zachary David Alexander ‘Zac’ Efron and it was said that his last name stands for Lark in Hebrew.

In year 2006, he graduated from the Arroyo Grande High School and subsequently entered the University of Southern California. However, his enrollment has been delayed for him to work in some of his film productions. Also, Efron entered the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, which is a community school that is located in Sta. Maria California.

His professional career started in year 2002, when he appeared as a guest star in some TV series shows like the Firefly, ER and the series show of The Guardian. He then played the role of Cameron Bale in the series show of the WB network called, Summerland, which also includes the stars of Jesse McCartney, Kay Panabaker and Lori Loughlin. Also, he appeared as a guest star in the series shows of CSI: Miami, NCIS, The Replacements and in the series show of the Suite Life of Zack & Cody. In year 2005, he was featured in one of the music videos of Hope Partlow called, Sick Inside. On the same year, he portrayed the role of the horse-loving guy, Patrick McCardle, in the film entitled, The Derby Stallion.

On the following year, Efron was included as one of the lead star in the Disney film called, High Schoo; Musical, where he portrayed the role of troy Bolton. It was said that the film helped him a lot to be recognized by many. He then took the fourth spot at the IMDBPro’s STARMeter. In August 2006, Efron was honored with a teen Choice Award for the category of Breakout Star and for the category of the TV Choice Chemistry, together with his co-star Vanessa Hudgens.

Efron appeared in one of the episodes of the series show called, Punk’d, on April 2007. He was also featured in one of the Music video of Hudgens entitled, Say OK. On the same year, he was included in the People Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Beautiful People. Efron reprised his role as Try Bolton on the High School Musical sequel film, which was initially released on October 2008. He then starred in the 2009 film of 17 Again. Efron together with the stars of Kristen Bell and Sean Combs, also starred in a series of advertisements, endorsing the 2010 MTV Movie Awards. In year 2009, Efron portrayed the title role in the film of Charlie St. Cloud, which was released on July 2010. In addition, Efron took the second spot on the People’s list for the 2011 Most Beautiful.

Zac Efron Photo Gallery