And the losers are ...

Why both Oscars accountants won’t be back next year

The Washington Post

Three days after a spectacular error marred the final moments of the 89th Academy Awards, the president of the film academy declared that the two PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants responsible for the mistake would never work at the Oscars again.

Longtime Oscars stage manager Gary Natoli offered new details of how both accountants failed to prevent — and later, halt — the disaster that unfolded after Faye Dunaway mistakenly announced “La La Land” as the best picture winner. Both accountants should have known instantly that the correct winner was “Moonlight” — but instead of taking action, Mr. Natoli said, they “froze.”

It was veteran accountant Brian Cullinan who handed co-presenter Warren Beatty the wrong envelope, containing a card awarding Emma Stone the best actress prize. While much of the focus on Sunday’s backstage blunder focused on Mr. Cullinan, initially it was less clear why Martha Ruiz also was held accountable for the mistake.

Mr. Cullinan and fellow “Oscar ballot leader” Ms. Ruiz had both memorized every single winner, and both should have known instantly the moment the wrong best picture winner was announced.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Mr. Cullinan and Ms. Ruiz had been asked what would happen if the wrong winner were accidentally announced on stage. Mr. Cullinan said there wasn’t a precise established protocol. “We would make sure that the correct person was known very quickly,” Mr. Cullinan said. “Whether that entails stopping the show, us walking onstage, us signaling to the stage manager — that’s really a game-time decision, if something like that were to happen. Again, it’s so unlikely.”

After that interview, Mr. Natoli said, Mr. Cullinan checked in with Mr. Natoli and stage manager John Esposito to make sure his answer had been correct: “In the interview, he said, ‘Well, we would tell the stage managers and check with each other and react,’” Mr. Natoli said. “And then he said to us, ‘Is that what we do?’ ”

The answer, Mr. Natoli said, was no: “I said, ‘If you know who the winner is, you don’t need to check with each other. You need to immediately go out and rectify the situation, ideally before the wrong winners get to the mic.’ ”

But Mr. Natoli said more than a minute had passed before he heard Mr. Esposito through his headset, asking if Ms. Ruiz could check her envelope because Mr. Cullinan thought they’d announced the wrong winner.