Tweeting PwC executive gets award for Oscar fiasco
An accountant for the Academy Awards botched the meticulous procedure for announcing the Oscar for best picture when he handed victory to La La Land before declaring Moonlight the real winner, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said on Monday.
Accountant Brian Cullinan, who media reports said had been tweeting backstage shortly before, gave presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope for the top award on Sunday, the accounting firm said in a statement.
In a gaffe that stunned the Dolby Theatre crowd in Hollywood and a television audience worldwide, “Cullinan mistakenly handed the back-up envelope for Actress in a Leading Role instead of the envelope for Best Picture” to the presenters, PwC said.
“Once the error occurred, protocols for correcting it were not followed through quickly enough by Mr Cullinan or his partner.”
The Wall Street Journal and celebrity website TMZ.com reported that Cullinan had posted a backstage photo of actor Emma Stone on Twitter minutes before the gaffe.
The photo was later deleted but was still viewable on Monday on a cached archive of the page. Cullinan could not be reached for comment.
The mistake was not rectified until the La La Land cast and producers were on stage giving acceptance speeches. It was left to the musical’s producer, Jordan Horowitz, to put things right. “Guys, guys, I’m sorry. No. There’s a mistake,” Horowitz said. “Moonlight, you guys won best picture. This is not a joke.”
It took three hours for PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has been overseeing Academy Awards balloting for 83 years, initially to confirm that Beatty and Dunaway received the wrong category envelope.
PwC said it took full responsibility and apologised to the casts and crews of La La Land and Moonlight.
“We sincerely apologize to Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, (host) Jimmy Kimmel, (broadcaster) ABC, and the Academy, none of whom was at fault for last night’s errors,” it said.
I think they were focused so hard on politics that they didn’t get the act together at the end. It was a little sad. It took away from the glamour of the Oscars.