“Moonlight”—a coming-of-age film about a homosexual black boy—made waves by winning the Best Picture from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences during the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday night.
However, the win was overshadowed when Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty mistakenly announced that “La La Land” had taken secured the Oscar.
Here’s the entire flub, in its cringe-worthy glory:
The full video of the #Oscars massacre. I felt bad for everyone. #MoonlightGate #Envelopegate
— XO🚀 (@IamHR2512) February 27, 2017
http://pic.twitter.com/vZlle3pU49
Not only did Dunaway read off La La Land as the best picture winner, the confusion wasn't fixed until after several members of the Lionsgate movie's team had already spoken. "I opened the envelope and it said 'Emma Stone, La La Land.' That's why I looked at Faye, and at you. I wasn't trying to be funny," Beatty clarified, laughing nervously.
[RELATED: Keep your cool in a crisis with these tips.]
The ceremony’s host, Jimmy Kimmel, tried to lighten the mood by referencing Steve Harvey’s similarly embarrassing slip at the 2015 MissUniverse pageant.
“Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this,” Kimmel said. At that pageant, Harvey mistakenly crowned Miss Colombia the winner—only to announce that Miss Philippines was the real winner almost three minutes later.
Though the correction for the Best Picture Award winner was made more quickly, Twitter users didn’t fail to make the connection:
Steve Harvey backstage making jokes #Oscars #BestPicture #wrongenvelope #envelopegate http://pic.twitter.com/sL7x0t9Ppw
— Natassja Leyba (@NatassjaLeyba) February 27, 2017
Steve Harvey after watching the Oscars calling the wrong winner for best picture #oscarsfail #envelopegate #PwC #oscars http://pic.twitter.com/lW0puwcEto
— Jonathan Barreneche (@YaManJonathan) February 27, 2017
Steve Harvey right now #EnvelopeGate #Oscars #Oscars2017 http://pic.twitter.com/D1cNrk0JG1
— Muscle Company (@MCtheAnomaly) February 27, 2017
Though Twitter users roasted both Dunaway and Beatty for the mistake, others shared that they felt sorry for the duo. Several users pointed out that the actors were clearly holding onto an envelope for Best Actress, not Best Picture:
You can clearly see Faye Dunaway holding the wrong “Actress In A Leading Role” envelope #envelopegate #oscars2017 http://pic.twitter.com/ifd5U1z5jZ
— Peter Krajewski (@VoodooMediaTV) February 27, 2017
Emma Stone had her envelope the whole time. Here's Warren Beatty clearly holding "Actress" as well. #EnvelopeGate #Oscars http://pic.twitter.com/Hqur5PeXNM
— Emily (@ejweeks) February 27, 2017
“In years past, the firm has provided two sets of winners' envelopes in briefcases that are sent to the Dolby Theatre, one briefcase for either side of the stage,” Hollywood Reporter wrote.
Brian Cullinan, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, explained the process on the Academy Awards’ Medium blog:
The producers decide what the order of the awards will be. We each have a full set. I have all 24 envelopes in my briefcase; Martha has all 24 in hers. We stand on opposite sides of the stage, right off-screen, for the entire evening, and we each hand the respective envelope to the presenter. It doesn’t sound very complicated, but you have to make sure you’re giving the presenter the right envelope.
A close-up photograph of Beatty’s hand as he came on stage showed he was holding an envelope for the best actress award – which had already been announced and went to Emma Stone, the star of La La Land. Stone said she had retained the envelope announcing her Oscar, so Beatty must have been holding the duplicate.
When he opened the envelope and took out the card Beatty appeared concerned, pausing and looking to see if there was another card inside. He then passed it to Dunaway who, seeing only La La Land named on the card, proclaimed it the winner. As the euphoric La La Land team crowded on to the stage and its producer, Mark Platt, began his thank you speech, according to USA Today – which had reporters backstage – a member of the accountancy staff exclaimed “He took the wrong envelope!” and ran on to the stage to stop the speech.
Shortly after the ceremony ended, PricewaterhouseCoopers issued the following statement:
We sincerely apologize 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.
We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation.
Though the firm apologized, many—including the academy’s leaders, Dunaway and Beatty—have egg on their faces.
What Mr. Horowitz said — “There’s a mistake. ‘Moonlight,’ you guys won best picture” — was one of the most surprising reversals in Oscar history, with apparent human error combining with live television to powerful, jaw-dropping effect. It was also a painful reminder, on the most celebratory night of the year for the film industry, that no system of voting is perfect, and it warped and dampened the euphoria of film executives and artists who had spent years working on the two movies.
And for the academy, which had been criticized last year for #OscarsSoWhite, there might have been something of a missed moment: Instead of a proper celebration of “Moonlight,” with its all-black cast and touching personal narrative, there was a televised scene of confusion, disbelief and astonishment.
PR Daily readers, how would you suggest the academy recover from this historic gaffe?
(Image via)
from PR Daily News Feed http://ift.tt/2mmkQgP
No comments:
Post a Comment