Envelope Switch Causes Warren Beatty To Announce La La Land As 2017 Oscars Best Picture Winner Not Actual Winner, Moonlight

The early ratings numbers suggest viewership was down for the 2017 Oscars broadcast last night, but a mistake at the end of the show may boost numbers for next year.

With only the Best Picture award winner left to announce at the 89th Acadamy Awards, Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty walked on stage to announce the winner and close the show.  Beatty opened the envelope for Dunaway and she announced La La Land as the 2017 winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture. The cast and crew of the awards show darling starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling took to the stage to give their acceptance speeches.

The confusion on stage began almost immediately. After two of La La Land‘s producers gave speeches, one of those producers stepped back to the microphone. That’s when Jordan Horowitz announced that there had been a mistake and Moonlight was the righful winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Picture.

The Washington Post has a minute-by-minute recap of the scene. Or you could watch the video below.

 

PwC, the firm that handles the voting for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has issued an apology to Moonlight, La La Land, Beatty, Dunaway and viewers for giving the wrong envelope to the presenters.

Jeffrey Fleishman of the Los Angeles Times says it was a stagehand that first realized Beatty was holding the wrong envelope.

Beatty maintained at an Oscars after-party that he and Dunaway were not at fault for the snafu. The pair had been given the envelope with the winner in the Best Actress category, which happened to be Emma Stone for her La La Land performance. Beatty was visibly confused when opened the enevelope. Take a look in the video below.

 

Here’s the moment Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced #LaLaLand as the best picture winner. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/ie5AR1jNV4

— Variety (@Variety) February 27, 2017

Emma Stone was quick after the show to point out that she was not at fault for the blunder. She told the press that she still had the envelope announcing her win. Turns out there are two sets of the envelopes, each held in a briefcase by a PwC accountant during the show.

Somehow, the wrong envelope got into Beatty’s hands, leading to the Steve Harvey moment.

For more from the 2017 Oscars, check out these recaps.

Best and Worst of Oscars 2017 – New York Times

7 Biggest Jaw-Droppers at the 2017 Oscars – E! Online

2017 Oscars: 20 Best, Worst and WTF Moments – Rolling Stone

Oscars 2017: Complete Nominees and Winners List – US Weekly

The Best Dressed Celebrities on the Red Carpet – Vogue

While everyone is talking about the Best Picture envelope fiasco, I’ll leave you with this video of Justin Timberlake’s opening performance of “Can’t Stop This Feeling” last night.

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