Thread: Most shocking moment in Oscars history: Presenters call the wrong winner for best pic

Most shocking moment in Oscars history: Presenters call the wrong winner for best picture

By Emily Yahr and Elahe Izadi February 27 at 12:49 AM

Watch the crazy ending of the Oscars

In what is most certainly the most shocking moment in Oscars history, Faye Dunaway announced the wrong winner for best picture at the end of the night, awarding the trophy to “La La Land” when it actually was supposed to go to “Moonlight.”

It all started as Dunaway’s co-presenter, Warren Beatty, opened the envelope to read the winner for best picture. He looked confused, took a long pause, and then looked over at Dunaway, who clearly thought he was doing some sort of bit. “You’re awful!” she said, as the crowd laughed nervously. “God.” Beatty then handed the envelope to Dunaway, who announced “La La Land!”

The cast and crew of “La La Land” (which had already won six awards during the ceremony) arrived on stage to accept the award. Producers Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt delivered their acceptance speeches, when all of a sudden there was a flurry of activity on stage. Producer Fred Berger was in the middle of thanking his family when he briefly turned around and remarked, “We lost, by the way.”

A man with a headset was milling about, as was Martha Ruiz, only one of two accountants in charge of tabulating Oscar ballots — and therefore only one of two people we knew all the winners before the show.

All of a sudden, Horowitz stepped forward again. “There’s been a mistake,” he said. “‘Moonlight,’ you guys won.”

As confused gasps and whispers took over, Beatty stepped forward to try to clear up the confusion. The reason he had paused earlier when he looked at the envelope was because it said “Emma Stone, ‘La La Land.’” Stone had just won best actress.

“That’s why I took such a long look at Faye…I wasn’t trying to be funny,” Beatty explained to the audience.

An additional wrinkle was added to the saga backstage, where Stone explained that she was on stage after “La La Land” was announced as winner with her best actress Oscars and card in hand.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.8a8a497f4d25

Gee, Hollywood, getting it right is hard, isn't it? Maybe you should focus more of your attention on your actual Oscar purpose of handing out the right awards to the right people and less time roasting our President. Just a thought.

Watching that mess on an Oscars stage was surreal. Like, oh my God, how does crap like this happen in a giant room of know it all's?

Can they be impeached for this? I think they should be impeached. I call for their impeachment!

You're not my Hollywood!!

We need a thorough investigation by our INTEL COMMUNITY of why Beatty says he had the card that said "Emma Stone, La La Land" yet, Emma Stone said she was holding her card that said "Emma Stone, La La Land".

Obviously, Russia hacked the cards to interfere with our Oscars in yet another brazen attempt to destroy our American Democracy.

I don't watch the Oscars, but the whole thing sounds kind of weird. Why would the people who are supposed to read from the envelope containing the winner announce the wrong winner? Aren't they supposed to read the envelope? Isn't it supposed to be a complete secret what the contents of the envelope are? From videos of the event I can see somebody later held up an envelope to the cameras showing Moonlight as the winner. Was it the same envelope? How could they screw that up? Something else happened.

Originally Posted by pkskyali

I don't watch the Oscars, but the whole thing sounds kind of weird. Why would the people who are supposed to read from the envelope containing the winner announce the wrong winner? Aren't they supposed to read the envelope? Isn't it supposed to be a complete secret what the contents of the envelope are? From videos of the event I can see somebody later held up an envelope to the cameras showing Moonlight as the winner. Was it the same envelope? How could they screw that up? Something else happened.

Perhaps it's all a publicity stunt to draw attention to the Academy Awards. Without the mishap happening, would we even be talking about the program today or would it have gained as much attention in the national news? Not sure that's something I believe, but it is an interesting thought.

Originally Posted by MW

Perhaps it's all a publicity stunt to draw attention to the Academy Awards. Without the mishap happening, would we even be talking about the program today or would it have gained as much attention in the national news? Not sure that's something I believe, but it is an interesting thought.

I don't think so. Look at the videos. Dunaway looks at the card and then announces, "La La Land". She really was reading what was on the card. Somebody either got the wrong envelope, or the thing was hijacked by the other movie. The movie is about a gay character. It's possible.

Originally Posted by pkskyali

I don't watch the Oscars, but the whole thing sounds kind of weird. Why would the people who are supposed to read from the envelope containing the winner announce the wrong winner? Aren't they supposed to read the envelope? Isn't it supposed to be a complete secret what the contents of the envelope are? From videos of the event I can see somebody later held up an envelope to the cameras showing Moonlight as the winner. Was it the same envelope? How could they screw that up? Something else happened.

Warren Beatty first opened the envelope which contained the card announcing that Faye Dunaway won the Best Actress award for La La Land. I'm guessing that the presenters had both envelopes and mixed them up.

Originally Posted by artclam

Warren Beatty first opened the envelope which contained the card announcing that Faye Dunaway won the Best Actress award for La La Land. I'm guessing that the presenters had both envelopes and mixed them up.

That's not what I see. I loath Facebook, but try to see if you can see this video:

https://www.facebook.com/ABCNews/vid...5448210313812/

Ned opens the envelope, looks at the card, passes it to Faye who also looks at the card and then announces, "La La Land". Ned looks very pleased like she said what he saw. "La La Land" is what the card said in the envelope they opened.

Look at Warren Beatty's explanation. You can see it at 1:30 in the video at http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrit...-human-9930921

You can also see an explanation at http://www.oscars.org/news/statement-pricewaterhousecoopers

Originally Posted by artclam

Look at Warren Beatty's explanation. You can see it at 1:30 in the video at http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrit...-human-9930921

You can also see an explanation at http://www.oscars.org/news/statement-pricewaterhousecoopers

It still doesn't add up. Beatty says that the envelope actually said Emma Jones was the winner, which means that the name "Emma Jones" would have been in capitals on the card in the envelope and the movie would have been in small print. These things are designed and printed to avoid this kind of confusion. If they had read the fine print that said "La La Land", they would have also read that the card was for best actress and would have stopped right there. They glanced, just glanced at the contents of the envelope and read what was in capitals, "La La Land". I think the source of Beatty's look of confusion was maybe that he had heard that Moonlight was supposed to be the winner. But nobody is supposed to know who the winner is until the envelopes are opened.

Read that there are 2 copies of each envelope -2 people each holding a complete set. One was used for best actress from one holder person leaving only one envelope, the last award left. Seems the bag packer put both best actress in the one bag and therefore the only envelope left. Hollywood, never know what is real or a publicity stunt. Beatty & Faye should have turned @ asked for a check but hindsight now or have the category marked on the outside of the envelope.

The whole show was pretty unwatchable; only wasted a few minutes of my time - all I could stomach. Worse ratings since '08. Who wants to hear politics from movieland? Their pettiness and constant put downs border on bullying - no other opinions allowed but theirs. Film is an art form with the show being a yearly award system for the outstanding - not a political arena. Their road now is reducing that wonderful art form to nonexistence. The people are getting sillier and sillier too. Spoiled, overpaid, live a lifestyle that few could afford.