The 89th Oscars was a crazy award show. While some things went expected, such as the jokes made about President Trump, others did not. It is no surprise that going into the night, La La Land was expected to win big. This movie made all the headlines and people raved about it. What was surprising was when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced La La Land as best picture, when it was actually Moonlight who had won. So what exactly happened?
La La Land was announced the winner and the excited cast and crew made their way up to the stage and began giving their speeches. If you look closely in the background you can see men with headphones taking the stage. This was the first indication that there was something wrong. Moments later Jordan Horowitz, La La Land producer, took the mic to announce that it was actually Moonlight who had won.
"This is not a joke, Moonlight has won Best Picture," said Horowitz.
This was a shocking moment in Oscars history. How could this mistake have been made? Warren Beatty explained.
"I opened the envelope, and it said, 'Emma Stone, La La Land. That's why I took such a long look at Faye, and at you. I wasn't trying to be funny," said Beatty.
Controversy continued after the show when Stone made a statement saying she had her card for Best Actress in her had the whole time.
A statement was released by the accounting firm in charge of tallying the votes, PricewaterhouseCoopers, apologizing and explaining the mix-up.
“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.”
While the loss of La La Land's initial win was disappointing, they graciously handed their awards to the cast and crew of Moonlight.
“I’m gonna be really happy to hand this to my friends from Moonlight,” said Horowitz.
This mix-up came as quite a shock to the audience, the nominees, and the academy. The ending was quite a shock and it made for an interesting ending. Congrats to those that won and we'll see you all next year for the 90th Oscar Awards.
Sheetal Tadiparty
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