And the biggest loser of the 2017 Oscars is … PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The global accounting firm has apologized for the embarrassing envelope mix-up that resulted in “La La Land” being wrongly announced as best picture at the Oscars.
It’s still not clear exactly how PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has administered the Oscars balloting process for more than 80 years, allowed the wrong red envelope to be carried on stage in a snafu that spoiled Hollywood’s biggest moment of the year.
PricewaterhouseCoopers says it maintains control over “all aspects” of the Academy’s voting process.
The firm has sole custody of all votes, and is responsible for keeping the results confidential. Once the ballots have been tabulated, two senior accountants memorize every winner, and then prepare two briefcases with the envelopes used by presenters on the big night.
The two accountants — Martha Ruiz and Brian Cullinan — carry the briefcases to the ceremony via “separate, secret routes.” The pair stand backstage and hand envelopes to award presenters before they walk onstage.
It was a breakdown in the final stage of this process that led presenter Faye Dunaway to announce “La La Land” as the winner of cinema’s most prestigious prize, only for “Moonlight” to be confirmed as the true champion moments later.
The first sign that something was amiss came when Warren Beatty took an extended pause before showing the card to his fellow presenter. Dunaway went ahead, pronouncing “La La Land” as best picture.
The cast and crew of the musical reacted in typical fashion: They bounded up to the stage and began issuing a flurry of “thank yous” to supporters and family members. A man wearing a headset and holding an envelope then appeared onstage.
It fell to “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz to explain that something had gone very wrong.
“I’m sorry, there’s a mistake. ‘Moonlight,’ you guys won best picture.”
“This is not a joke,” he said. He flashed the real card at the crowd: “Moonlight,” it read.
Beatty suggested that he had been given the wrong envelope.
“I want to tell you what happened,” Beatty said before leaving the stage. “I opened the envelope and it said ‘Emma Stone, La La Land.’ That’s why I took such a long look at Faye.”
Read the full story at CNN.
