Oscar Awards: the night of the “La La Land” scandal, the film that did not win but was announced to millions of viewers

On the night of February 16, 2017 something very strange happens It happened at the Oscars. The actress from the stage Faye Dunaway -accompanied by Warren Beatty– announced that Damien Chazelle’s La La Land won the award for best film. But…

Dunaway said three words (The The Earth), when he had to say only one (Moonlight, original title of the film released in Argentina as Luz de luna) to announce which title had won the Oscar for best film.

It was seen by millions of viewers around the world.. Warren Beatty opened the red envelope, paused for a moment, yes, As if he wasn’t entirely sure what he was seeing.. And she handed it to Faye Dunaway, who announced “La La Land.”

As the celebrations began on stage, some faces began to look worried. Something like when they call VAR in a football match. And yes, that’s what happened.

Jordan Horowitzmanufacturer of The The Earth who was on stage to accept the award, later told the press that “the guys with headphones start buzzing around me. They took the envelope I had. I see it says ‘Emma Stone In The The Earth.’ It was clear that something was wrong. They started looking for the Best Picture award. Nobody knew where he was. Then he appeared. They opened it next to me and it said Moonlight (Moonlight). So I took it. And I had to fix the situation.”

As also seen on the screen, Horowitz approached the microphone and, with dignity, said: “There has been a mistake. Moonlightyou guys won best picture.”

But as one might have imagined, during the first hours after the mistake, the mess or the scandal, whatever you want to call it, began to emerge explanations.

What happened?

Warren Beatty, who accompanied Dunaway to the award presentation, said the note in the envelope “Emma Stone, La La Land”.

But everything became even more complicated when Emma Stonespeaking to the media after receiving the statuette as best actress, she was sincere: “I have always had with me the card that says I won the Oscar”.

Then?

The explanation: counters PricewaterhouseCoopers -the company in charge of overseeing the Oscars- has put together not one but two complete sets of envelopes containing the names of the winners of all the categories to be awarded (on that occasion, 24).

During the ceremony, two counters are positioned on the sides of the room at the back of the stage and take turns distributing the envelopes. It’s simple: depending on which side of the stage the presenters enter, they give you the corresponding envelope.

The problem is, there was no immediate explanation for why Beatty was given the wrong envelope. And no one from the Academy immediately responded to the question.

Just three hours after the errorPricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the official auditor of the Hollywood Academy Awards, released a statement.

A statement that takes charge

“We sincerely apologize to (the people of) Moonlight, The The EarthWarren Beatty, Faye Dunaway and Oscar-goers for the mistake during the Best Picture award announcement,” the statement read.

“Speakers had mistakenly received the wrong category envelope and when they discovered this, it was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened and are deeply sorry that this happened.”

“We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, the ABC and Jimmy Kimmel -it was the presenter- they handled the situation,” the statement ends.

PricewatershouseCoppers later provided the names of those responsible for the error.

The company that had controlled the ceremony’s selection process for 83 years at the time released a statement highlighting this Brian Cullinanpartner of the company, held responsible for having delivered the wrong envelope to the advertisers.

Instead of giving them the one that said “Best Picture,” Cullinan gave Warren Beatty one that matched the previous award, the one that gave Emma Stone the Best Actress statuette.

On the other side of the stage was the other person in charge of delivering the envelopes, also a Price Waterhouse Coppers (PwC) employee, Martha Ruiz.

The company’s statement was also critical of the woman’s role, saying neither reacted quickly enough to correct the mistake.

“We are deeply sorry for the disappointment suffered by the cast and crew of La La Land and Moonlight. We sincerely apologize to Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Jommy Kimmel, ABC and the Academy, none of whom were at fault in causing the errors. last night (Sunday). Our gratitude goes to each of them for the elegance they demonstrated in a very difficult moment.”

“For 83 years, the Academy has entrusted PwC with the integrity of the awards process at the ceremony and last night we let the Academy down,” the statement concluded.

Despite the mistake, the company continued to control the Oscars.