Somewhere, Steve Harvey is breathing a sigh of relief. His Miss America screw up has been supplanted as the mother of all awards mistakes by a major Oscar eff up.
On Sunday’s 2017 ABC Academy Awards telecast, actors Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty presented Best Picture to La La Land. After the winners happily accepted their statue, they were informed that, in fact, Moonlight was the winner. OOPS.
The actual card was held up to the camera as proof. The La La Land producer awkwardly handed over the Oscar to the actual winners. Beatty took the mic to explain that the card he pulled out said “Emma Stone La La Land” (In fact, the best actress award preceded Best Picture). Confused, Beatty handed the card to Dunaway and she announced “La La Land.”
Sounds like somebody backstage screwed up. I would not want to be that person. The Moonlight people awkwardly accepted their award amid chaos, as host Jimmy Kimmel tried to keep the train from totally jumping the track. TOO LATE!
UPDATE: Somehow, the accounting firm that oversees the super-secret Oscar ballots, PricewaterhouseCoopers, handed Beatty the wrong card. There are two sets of identical cards on either side of the stage.
“We sincerely apologize to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for best picture.
The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred. We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation.”
In years past, the firm has provided two sets of winners’ envelopes in briefcases that are sent to the Dolby Theatre, one briefcase for either side of the stage.
Watch the mayhem below.
Full Video
Biggest #Oscars mix up of all time? Watch the full play-by-play: pic.twitter.com/RT2zGiR798
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 27, 2017
