The accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers has a message about last nights shocking Oscars ending: Were sorry.
The 89th annual Academy Awards was mere minutes from wrapping a somewhat boring broadcast when backstage staffers started running to the microphone to interrupt the final acceptance speeches.
Presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway had just awarded the Oscar for Best Picture to La La Land. The only problem was they were supposed to give Moonlight that honor , and there had been a terrible mix-up behind the scenes.
Heres the entire moment as it played out on live TV:
Watching the #Oscars producers slowly tell the #LaLaLand team they didn't win Best Picture is WILD. Keep your eyes on the background pic.twitter.com/3TRUWZAMjH
Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) February 27, 2017","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Jarett Wieselman","author_url":"https://twitter.com/JarettSays","cache_age":86400,"description":"Watching the #Oscars producers slowly tell the #LaLaLand team they didn't win Best Picture is WILD. 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Oscars","slug":"the-oscars","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/the-oscars","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/the-oscars","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/the-oscars"},"relegenceId":3447313,"department":{"name":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"section":{"title":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"topic":{"title":"The Oscars","slug":"the-oscars","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/entertainment/topic/the-oscars"},{"name":"Movie 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Picture","slug":"academy-award-for-best-picture","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/academy-award-for-best-picture","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/academy-award-for-best-picture","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/academy-award-for-best-picture"},"relegenceId":3453505,"department":{"name":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"section":{"title":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"topic":{"title":"The Oscars","slug":"the-oscars","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/entertainment/topic/the-oscars"},{"name":"warren beatty","slug":"warren-beatty","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/warren-beatty","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/warren-beatty","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/warren-beatty"},"relegenceId":2850681,"url":"https://action.news/topic/warren-beatty"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false,"enhancements":{}}">Watching the #Oscars producers slowly tell the #LaLaLand team they didn't win Best Picture is WILD. Keep your eyes on the background pic.twitter.com/3TRUWZAMjH
Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) February 27, 2017
The veteran actors took to the stage to present the final award of the night. As Beatty read the card in the envelope, he looked visibly confused. He checked the envelope more than once, paused, looked to Dunaway, started to announce the winner, and then passed the envelope to his co-presenter, who promptly said, La La Land.
Advertisement
Look at Warren Beatty check the envelope a second time. He knew something was wrong #Oscars pic.twitter.com/ko27lOetiB
Hawkeye KSCS DJ (@HawkeyeOnAir) February 27, 2017","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Hawkeye KSCS DJ","author_url":"https://twitter.com/HawkeyeOnAir","cache_age":86400,"description":"Look at Warren Beatty check the envelope a second time. 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Oscars","slug":"the-oscars","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/the-oscars","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/the-oscars","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/the-oscars"},"relegenceId":3447313,"department":{"name":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"section":{"title":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"topic":{"title":"The Oscars","slug":"the-oscars","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/entertainment/topic/the-oscars"},{"name":"Movie 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Picture","slug":"academy-award-for-best-picture","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/academy-award-for-best-picture","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/academy-award-for-best-picture","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/academy-award-for-best-picture"},"relegenceId":3453505,"department":{"name":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"section":{"title":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"topic":{"title":"The Oscars","slug":"the-oscars","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/entertainment/topic/the-oscars"},{"name":"warren beatty","slug":"warren-beatty","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/warren-beatty","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/warren-beatty","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/warren-beatty"},"relegenceId":2850681,"url":"https://action.news/topic/warren-beatty"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false,"enhancements":{}}">Look at Warren Beatty check the envelope a second time. He knew something was wrong #Oscars pic.twitter.com/ko27lOetiB
Hawkeye KSCS DJ (@HawkeyeOnAir) February 27, 2017
According to Jeffrey Fleishman , senior writer on film, art and culture at the Los Angeles Times , the ceremonys backstage crew immediately began to panic:
As the La La Land cast was taking the stage to celebrate, a stagehand in the wings said, Oh ... Oh my god, he got the wrong envelope. They walked back and forth repeating it.
Only two humans on the planet know the Oscar winners in advance, and thats PricewaterhouseCoopers Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz. After stuffing the envelopes and locking them in a briefcase, they memorize the list of winners. Just last week, the duo blogged on The Huffington Post about the process, and described a meticulous system for ensuring there were no mistakes:
We hand each envelope directly to the presenter in each category. We are positioned on either side of the stage, so we can hand envelopes from stage right or stage left, depending on where the presenter is entering. We dont leave for the entire show not even for a bathroom break! Were so focused on doing our jobs that we dont mind the hours of standing.
In the photo below, Cullinan appears to be checking envelopes with a stagehand as La La Land producer Fred Berger thanked his family.
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