“This result doesn’t seem right. Oscars used to be so white!” sang James Corden in Monday night’s episode of “The Late Late Show” to the tune of “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land.” Of course he’s referring to the biggest mix-up in Oscars history when on Sunday night “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as Best Picture before the rightful winner was revealed to be “Moonlight.” Comedians are having a field day with the gaffe, but few are as theatrical as Corden, who knows a thing or two about award shows, having hosted the 2016 Tonys and 2017 Grammys. Watch his segment above.
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The mistake happened because Best Picture presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were given the envelope for Best Actress (Emma Stone for “La La Land”) instead of Best Picture and read the result aloud anyway. Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel also addressed the problem when he returned to his own late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Monday night. “[Beatty] was confused, so he let [Dunaway] read the winner. In other words, Clyde threw Bonnie under the bus. Which, I have to be honest, is one of the slickest moves I’ve ever seen.”
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PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accountants entrusted with Oscar voting every year, gave their own mea culpa not long after the error occurred, “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.” Oops.
