“Immediately corrected,” they say. Hmmm.
PwC, the accounting firm which manages the counting and collation of votes at the Academy Awards, have issued a statement to apologise for, and to clarify one of the most embarrassing moments in the history of the Oscars on Sunday night.
When the time came to announce the most prestigious award of the night, Best Picture, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway read out La La Land as the winner when in fact it was Moonlight.
Beatty and Dunaway, it transpired, had been given the wrong envelope, which read ‘Emma Stone, La La Land’ with the correction being made during the acceptance of the award when a large number of the cast and crew were on stage.
PwC issued a statement on Monday morning apologising to all parties involved and said that the error came about because Beatty and Faye had been given the wrong category envelope. An investigation will take place into how exactly the error could have came about.
— PwC US (@PwCUS) February 27, 2017
The statement in full reads as follows:
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.
We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation.
