Farce in Tinseltown as wrong film is named best picture at Academy Awards

● Blunderland for La La Land after producers discover mistake midway through acceptance speech as Moonlight scoops prize

The accounting firm responsible for the counting and collation of votes for the Oscars has apologised for its part in the blunder that saw La La Land announced as the winner of best picture instead of Moonlight.

The mix-up saw the musical announced as the victor due to duplicate sets of cards, held by the only two people who knew the results, being mistakenly handed out to the show’s presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.

A statement from accountancy firm Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) said: “We sincerely apologise 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.”

Beatty and Dunaway had been given a card that revealed that La La Land’s Emma Stone was the leading actress winner, prompting them to incorrectly announce the musical as the winner.

Backstage, a confused Stone later said that she was still holding her winner’s card in her hand when best picture was announced, but there are in fact two identical sets of cards.

Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz from PWC, the tax partner to the awards ceremony, were forced to intervene on stage amidst the confusion and chaos.

The major blunder came at the very end of the Oscars’ ceremony, which was the worst for British talent in a decade.

The producers of La La Land were coming to the end of their acceptance speeches before it was revealed there had been a mix-up and that Moonlight was the victor of the coveted accolade.

La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz announced the error to the audience, holding up the correct card with the best picture winner, as he said: “There’s a mistake. Moonlight you guys won best picture.

“This is no joke. I’m afraid they read the wrong thing. This is not a joke, Moonlight, you won best picture.”

Beatty returned to the microphone to say: “I want to tell you what happened, I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, La La Land, and that is why I took such a long look at Faye and at you.

“I wasn’t trying to be funny. This is Moonlight for best picture.”

La La Land, which had scored a record-tying 14 nominations, ended up with just six wins, including best actress for Stone and best director for Damien Chazelle, who is the youngest winner of the prize at 32.

Moonlight, which follows the life of a young black boy dealing with his sexuality, scooped three prizes in total, landing best picture, best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali.

Casey Affleck won the best actor in a leading role Oscar for his role in Manchester By The Sea, beating fellow actors Ryan Gosling, Denzel Washington, Andrew Garfield and Viggo Mortensen.

Affleck, 41, was hugged and kissed by his brother, Batman star Ben Affleck, as his name was called.