PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Oscar accountants responsible for overseeing the voting results every year, have broken their silence on Sunday night’s Best Picture fiasco that saw “La La Land” mistakenly named the winner instead of “Moonlight.”
Their statement reads in full: “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.”
Sign up to get Gold Derby’s free newsletter
with experts’ latest predictions and breaking news
It was the Oscar mix-up heard all around the world and has unfortunately taken some of the wind out of “Moonlight’s” sails. When Beatty opened the envelope to name the Best Picture winner, he looked confused as he was actually holding a duplicate of the Best Actress card announcing Emma Stone (“La La Land”). Beatty handed the envelope to Dunaway, who then named “La La Land” — and not “Moonlight” — as the Oscar winner for Best Picture.
During the middle of the “La La Land” producers’ acceptance speeches, the truth was discovered when Oscar workers rushed to the stage. And so “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz told a stunned audience, “There’s a mistake. ‘Moonlight,’ you guys won Best Picture.”
Oscars: Complete list of winners (and nominees)
“I want to tell you what happened,” Beatty then explained as the “Moonlight” team was making their way to the microphone. “I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, ‘La Land.’ That’s why I took such a long look at Faye and at you. I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
A self-deprecating Kimmel, who was hosting the 2017 Oscars, joked, “I blame myself for this. Let’s remember, it’s just an awards show. We hate to see people disappointed, but the good news is we got to see some extra speeches. I knew I would screw this show up!”
The winning producers for “Moonlight” were Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Adele Romanski. This is the second win for Gardner and Keliner and the first for Romanski. “Moonlight” previously won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Film, but “La La Land” was seen as the frontrunner since the beginning of the awards season. “La La Land” did end up with the most awards (6), while “Moonlight” claimed three total.
