There was drama at the Oscars on Sunday night when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced the wrong name of the winner of best picture award. In the dramatic moment, which was being beamed alive around the world of television, La La Land was given the award, only to be stopped midway through their acceptance speech. The gong was then given to the rightful winner – Moonlight.
The mishap is said to have occurred when Beatty and Dunaway were given the wrong envelope. According to reports, they were given the duplicate envelope for best actress which contained the information ‘Emma Stone La La Land.’
After producers came on stage to rectify the issue, Beatty went on to explain what had happened. He said ‘I want to tell you what happened I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, La La Land and that is why I took such a long look at Faye and at you. I wasn’t trying to be funny. This is Moonlight for best picture.’
PwC, the company who is responsible for counting the votes, sealing the envelopes and handing them out on the right issued a formal apology for the mix-up. ‘We sincerely apologise 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.