Ever since approximately 12:10 am on Monday, #Envelopegate and #Oscarfail were trending on Twitter. The Oscars ended in one of the strangest debacles I’ve ever seen, when Faye Dunaway announced La La Land as the Best Picture winner because someone handed Warren Beatty the back-up Best Actress envelope rather than the Best Picture envelope. People have gone through the footage, and that’s the story that checks out – Beatty didn’t realize that he had been handed the wrong envelope by the accountants, and that’s why he seemed so flummoxed when he opened the envelope. Anyway, on last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel explained what happened in that moment from his perspective:
I don’t blame Kimmel for this, nor do I blame Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. It’s pretty obvious that accountants f–ked up, and they’ve already issued an apology. Here’s another fun little addendum to the story about the accountants – apparently, Brian Cullinan, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, was too busy schmoozing with Emma Stone and other celebrities backstage and he was probably the one who messed up the envelopes.
As for Warren Beatty and the envelope situation, I actually feel really sorry for him. He got the blame in the first hours of the debacle and he seemed genuinely upset that this huge controversy had been set in motion on his watch. According to Page Six – and every other outlet – Beatty was given the real Best Picture envelope in the middle of the chaos, and he ended up hanging on to both envelopes, the Best Picture one and the duplicate Best Actress one. When Oscar security and Oscar producers tried to convince Beatty to give up the envelopes, this happened:
“Beatty was getting into an elevator, and they asked him to turn over the envelopes,” said a source who saw the exchange. But, “He said no, he was going to keep them.” The source said Beatty wanted the envelopes as proof he wasn’t responsible for the awards accident. “Warren can be a bit paranoid,” the source noted, “with his politics and everything.”
Vanity Fair reported that during the elevator incident, the show’s stage manager “Gary Natoli . . . approached Beatty,” telling him that “security would like the envelopes.” But that Beatty shot back, “I’m holding onto them. I’ll give them to [‘Moonlight’ director] Barry Jenkins at an appropriate moment.”
After the error, Beatty was seen in a tussle onstage for the Best Pic envelope with PWC’s Brian Cullinan — the accounting exec who handed him the wrong envelope in the first place — and the actor successfully had two envelopes as he walked off. Beatty carried them to an after-party, and was seen at the academy’s official Governor’s Ball explaining the snafu to execs from Lionsgate, which put out “La La Land.”
I actually believe that shows remarkable presence of mind from Beatty – he knew that someone was going to get fired because of this sh-t and he wanted to hold on to the receipts. I like that Kimmel said Beatty showed him the envelope too – it’s clear that Beatty wanted to figure out how this happened too.
People have also been compiling reaction shots from the moment everyone realized what happened – go here to see. Why was Ryan Gosling smiling? He actually thought it was funny?
Last thing: this year’s ratings weren’t that great, despite the viral moment at the end.
Photos courtesy of ABC and WENN.
I think Ryan did find it hysterical.
And Jenkins I believe said Warren showed him both envelopes onstage and that he thought it was important to do so. Clearly the guy knew something was wrong and was trying to make sure his instinct was right.
PWC is to blame for sure
Ryan’s expression was the best. He’s probably like I don’t care I didn’t win anyways.
Church giggles
I liked Ryan’s reaction as well. He found the humor in the situation, unlike, say director FRED BERGER who got pissy when he realized they lost, shook his head with a creepy smile, mouthed “no,” then proceeded to give an acceptance speech. Who does that?! What a maniac. He ended his acceptance speech with a “we lost, by the way, but you know…”
!?!?!?!??!
People were so offended on Twitter that Jimmy Kimmel mentioned he almost started laughing too-I would’ve! That’s such an incredibly awkward, “did that just happen” moment, that’s going to be the natural reaction for some people.
I’m happy Moonlight won over La La but I think part of the reason the Oscars have such low viewership and seem so tedious is that people can get so reverential about the whole ceremony. I appreciate Moonlight, Fences and Hidden Figures getting attention, but after last year, I’m over all of the solemn “this is the OSCARS” attitudes. I actually appreciated Jimmy Kimmel being a little flippant throughout the show.
Some people claim that the lower viewership in the past few years is because the movies being nominated are being seen by fewer and fewer people.
LalaLand, Hidden Figures and Arrival were sleeper hits, though. I agree that the self important attitude adds to it, as well.
I have watched the Oscars for the past 25 years pretty religiously. I usually end up seeing most of the nominated movies, though.
I’m so glad Moonlight, Mar, and Vi won but it makes me think they did just to shut people up about the oscarssowhite last year. They may now think they reached their quota. However, not one Black person won the main two, best actor or best actress.
It is odd though because last year everyone was tweeting “oscarssowhite” but this year it wasn’t “so white” and STILL people didn’t watch. We are a part of a generation that loves to complain but never follows through with sh*t. We are to blame.
I am a nervous giggler and I would have probably laughed as well.
Poor Warren…But surely by now it’s clear PWC is at fault.
Warren was obviously confused and flustered when he opened that envelope because he hemmed and hawed for a few minutes. I think Faye even told him he was being impossible cause he took so long to show her the envelope. It appeared that he was showing Faye the envelope to alert her something was wrong, but she just glanced at it and blurted out La La Land cause that’s what she saw. Neither Faye or Warren are to blame for this fiasco.
And how cool is it that Moonlight won Best Picture. A movie with such a unique subject and a $1.5 million budget that’s grossed over $25 million.
I agree that this was neither Warrens or Fayes fault directly but I am loving the bhs gossip coming out of this. Apparently Warren and Faye had squabbled backstage over who would do the preamble and who would read out the winner. I’ve heard this is frequently a major bone of contention but its so fantastic to have names to the pettiness. Anyways, Faye won that squabble and so when he stalled she assumed he was mugging for effect to steal her thunder. Anyways, the best punishment for those Pwc jerk faces is to leave them in a locked room with Faye. I know younger readers wont understand why but just know that Faye Dunaway is in the most delicious way, the absolute baddest. As an illustration, she is said to have thrown a cup of pee at Roman Polanski because he refused to let her take a bathroom break. The. baddest.
And yes, to everything about Moonlight. I hipe it gets its own post. I still cant find Barry Jenkins acceptance speech on youtube because the clips I find all stop after the screw up. Their spotlight was stolen. Its outrageous.
Oh wow. I hadn’t about their backstage squabble. That explains Faye’s reaction to Warren’s stalling. How delicious. And yes, I’ve heard the rumors about Faye…..she is definitely not someone whose wrong side you want to get on.
‘she is said to have thrown a cup of pee at Roman Polanski because he refused to let her take a bathroom break.’
this is a great story, especially because polanski deserves all sorts of human waste thrown at him.
You don’t mess with Faye. And you don’t mess with Warren.
And I hope everyone who was blaming the problem on their ages has learned the lesson that ageism is just as offensive as all the other bigoted ‘isms.”
I was really surprised at her. I’ve seen Beatty present before and he always takes it seriously. He’s professional about it. I don’t know if he pranks people on sets or something, but I couldn’t figure out why she was saying things and pulling his arm like he was goofing during the awards show. All that “what are you doing? Come on” “you’re impossible”. I was like, just stop lady, something isn’t right. And now I know Faye is a bit of a bulldozer, might be bitchy. But ALL IS FORGIVEN for throwing pee at Polanski who deserves all the piss the world can spare.
Faye Dunaway is NOT THE ONE.
I agree so much about the ageism comments, lightpurple.
I have also seen people who are blaming them say age isn’t an excuse and that Beatty should have said something like “I think we have the wrong card.”
I mean, hindsight is 20/20. Maybe he thought it was a typo. Like someone said, maybe he was like um is Emma Stone a producer. Lalaland was a nominee for best picture and it did win best director, so it wasn’t outlandish to assume there was some sort of typo on the card or something. Also this is not exactly a common event, the PWC pride themselves with being efficient and a big deal is made out of the suitcases. We all say, well I would have just said I have the wrong envelope, but we don’t really know what we would have done if we were in his shoes.
I’m just not here for the conspiracy theories that Warren and Faye didn’t want Moonlight to win and they did this on purpose, or wanted to steal the spotlight from Moonlight’s win. Or the comments saying “that’s why you shouldn’t put two old people on the stage.” The PWC guy messed up, live TV isn’t exactly the place to trouble shoot a problem like that. Moonlight got it’s deserved award. I don’t necessarily think they are mad they didn’t get their moment. I am sure the Lalaland people are NOT happy, though. That was pretty embarrassing.
@sharkbait the only thing I would say that is age related but not in a bad way, may be that Warren is old Hollywood- to them the show goes on. You would probably never see a performer from that age stop like Adele did at the Grammy’s and restart a song. I think it is just in them to go with the flow and try not to let the audience know. Granted it didn’t work out that well, but still. Not passing judgement on what is better either, I just think they are different styles.
The other thing is after looking at the type they were not the easiest to read or the most fool proof. The card in the envelope didn’t say Best Leading Actress – Emma Stone- La La Land it left out the category on the card, only the reverse type on the back of the envelope had the category. Anyone over 40 who may need reading glasses could have issues with that. Add in an accountant trying to take pictures of the stars backstage and there you go. I’m with Ryan and Jimmy it is a little funny- yes I feel bad for both of the movies, but still. Good news people might remember the movies more.
A cup of pee. I am storing this stunt up for the future, although unfortunately will never have the chance to use it. Maybe if I always had a cupful handy…
This brings throwing a drink in someone’s face to a whole new level. Don’t think I could do that, either.
A girl can mean-dream.
Oh yeah, Faye had a reputation in the day as very high strung (cray-cray). Ryan Murphy should do an episode for Feud about the Polanski/Dunaway wars. All said and done, Chinatown one of the best movies of all time.
@islalund I totally agree with your explanation of what happened between Warren and Faye.
Kind out of topic, but I absolutely hated the moment he made fun of Mahershala Ali’s name. It was rude and destined to diminush him. Not all can be Jimmys, some has to be Beyonce, Cher, Madonna, Mahershala and not be confused by others, be unique.
It was also rude when he said nobody saw Isabelle Huppert’s movie.
People esp, comedians, makes fun of people’s name all the time. No biggie. But he also said no one saw Viggo’s movie . He also told Damon that his movie flopped.
And he’s most likely right about many of us not seeing those movies. Even the tell all secret oscar voter said some people vote on movies that they never saw. I think 12YAS was one example he used.
The person who was rude was the producer of La La Land. He snatched the envelope out of Warren Beatty”s hand. Even the way he told Moonlight this is not a joke , you won was said in an angry gracious tone.
I think the problem stems more from the perspective a white man mocking non-Anglican names. There’ s a lot of gross history attached there.
it’s no biggie when your name is anglosaxon sounding, and no one ever misspells or mispronounces your name #checkyourprivilege. signed by me, an immigrant whose name is constantly mispronounced and treated as different, and after a while is just.not.funny.
‘The person who was rude was the producer of La La Land. He snatched the envelope out of Warren Beatty”s hand. Even the way he told Moonlight this is not a joke , you won was said in an angry gracious tone.’
did you watch the whole thing? the guy might have snatch it, it was awkward and he was clearly impatient, but he was extremely gracious. when kimmel was saying stuff like i think you should also win an award and all that crap, the producer said he’s be so proud to give the award over to his moonlight friends.
He was rude and others have pointed that out as well. He was gracious once Jimmy said that they both should win.
And White people’s name gets made fun of too. Everything is not racial, jeez.
I didn’t see the the rudeness concerning Mahershala’s name. I have a son with a very unusual family name (white btw) and I have most certainly experienced appalling rudeness but mostly just interest and harmless comments. The latter is all I saw.
@V4Real i’m white. with a very foreign sounding name, because well i’m an immigrant and moved as a child to britain. seriously man, check your privilege.
making fun of foreign names, not unusual, just foreign (my name is for instance super common where i come from), is ignorant and not very funny at all.
I think it could have seemed rude when the LLL producer grabbed the card out of Warren’s hand, but tbh I think that poor guy was so frustrated that everyone was just milling around, total chaos, which seemed to go on and on.
He was probably so pissed by then that either someone from the Academy or from PWC wasn’t DOING anything so he took it into his own hands. That’s how I saw it, anyway.
@Ell I’m Black, enough said. I’m sure you have more privilege than me.
And Mahershala is not foreign, he’s from California so what are you even talking about.
Lorelai, I agree with you. It took way too long to correct the mistake. That producer was the only one with presence to get to the microphone and tell Everyonevthat a mistake had been made. He is trying to get Moonlight up on stage, no one is moving, and no one is taking charge so he did. I have seen a lot of people talk about how rude he was, but I didn’t have a problem with him seeing the Moonlight card and grabbing it to show everyone. And of course he was probably disappointed and feeling a little humiliated that they were now onstage giving speeches for an award they didn’t win. It was badly handled by so many people, but he is not on that list.
@amy Yes, it was very rude and also, a little sign that Americans as a movie industry don’t watch the production of other countries.
Mahershala’s name isn’t even that odd or hard to pronounce. It’s actually a nickname of his much longer name.
Apparently, the whole thing started on Jimmy’s show where Mahershala was talking about how his mom gave him such a long and complicated name, so he wanted to give his daughter a short and easy name (Bari). But I agree, ethnic names are often made fun of during the Oscars (Chiwetel, Luptia etc all had their names bungled).
You would have thought any Oscar host would be aware of David Letterman’s Uma-Oprah debacle, and steered clear of repeating name jokes, especially with an Anglo-centric angle as well.
Not cool to mess with Mahershala’s name (and I probably just messed it up).
In our house we had a good laugh at names like Harry Ballser the other night, but my kids are tweens, and my sense of humor is right at their age range.
Maybe I’m a bit sensitive, but now is not the time to be putting down any disenfranchised groups in any way, shape, or form.
When my mother went to her 50th H.S. reunion she mentioned that her classmate Harry Dick was there. She never figured out why my sisters and I fell on the floor laughing.
The ratings don’t really matter at this point…the show has never been more relevant thanks to that crazy moment!
It is funny that Faye just got away with no blame despite her just blurting it out.
Right now, Janet Jackson is so mad.
Detective LaToya has it covered.
I thought it was a stunt when I first read about it tbh. The Oscars have been decaying in popularity for a while now. I didnt even know Kimmel was hosting until I read about it the next day.
It just seems fishy to me this had to happen with Best Picture of all categories.
To be fair, Best Picture is the last award to be announced, so I’m guessing the chances of a mistake are the highest for that category. It’s the end of a long, long ceremony and everyone is looking forward to getting something to eat and hitting up an afterparty.
It should be the least risky, because it would be the last category to have two envelopes. I agree that it could very well be a stunt.
Are we going to talk about Emma Stone starting conspiracy sh!t at the press room? She was so out of line with her comments like what? People were pulling strings behind the scenes so her terrible movie wouldn’t win? I usually love her but right now I don’t like her very much. Poor Warren getting blamed when he didn’t even read the name.
Yeah, I was kind of turned off by her comments too – they seemed really petty and blame-y.
Yeah that was not cool at all on her part.
Never liked Emma Stone, I’m glad others are finally getting on the train. She didnt deserve that award and frankly if we HAD to give it someone in that cast because ratings, it should have been Ryan. But boy did she shill for it!
Yes. I was bother by what Emma Stone said too. I liked her Easy A, but I didn’t think she should won the Oscar for La La Land. It was unnecessary. If you don’t want to start anything, then don’t say it. Like I said, I liked her before, but her comment left a bad taste in my mouth.
Anyways, congrats Emma Stone, the first Asian American to win Best Actress.
Yep, I posted a comment on a thread about Emma’s remarks yesterday. She was so rude and gets major side eye from me.
Her comments are crazytalk. The only conspiracy I’ll believe in is that the Academy’s super-secret version of MI-5 set this up so that next year the ratings will finally be able to climb over the rim of the toilet they have been in for years. And I don’t actually believe that, but it would be funny/horrible if it was true.
Yeah, she did not need to be stoking the conspiracy fires.
Even I knew there were two sets of cards. Hence two accountants and two suitcase. A human error happened, the show has been around for 88 years. It could have been handled better. I think the mics could have been cut and a stage hand could have ushered Jimmy or Warren to the mic so that the Lalaland people could clear out and the Moonlight winners could come up onstage and get their moment and be able to do their speeches in full. Instead, the Lalaland producer wanted to clear it up as quickly as possible and that’s why people think he came off as rude or brusque (I mean, I’m sure he was mad tbh). But this is all in hindsight. Someone is going down over this. But maybe people will actually watch the Oscars again!
The conspiracy theories are a little much, I don’t think Warren and Faye have a personal slight against Moonlight nor do I think it was a stunt for ratings.
it was a very dangerous white woman moment. I didn’t like it.
What does that even mean??!
I didn’t mind that. At that point A LOT of people on Twitter were blaming her or Leo for leaving her card lying around somewhere Warren could accidentally grab it. She was making it clear that’s 100% not what happened.
I didn’t get that from her tone at all. When I see that clip I hear her implying sh*t with that face she pulled after saying she was holding her envelope the entire time and saying she “doesn’t know what that story was” trying to say inbetween words the explanation the Oscars gave was bogus to her. She won an Oscar she did not deserved, she should stay quiet and be thankful and just not start untrue crap.
I’ll give her a one-time pass on this because apparently it was TOTAL chaos backstage after the incident, staff and stars running in circles yelling and demanding answers. I’m sure she got grilled by several people about her envelope the minute she got offstage so she was understandably a little nervous at her presser that people might think she had something to do with the screw-up, and wanted to clear the air while she had the chance. I’d have done the same.
But yeah, other than that Huppert was robbed.
My local news was at the Oscars. They were actually throwing Emma Stone under the bus at that moment, suggesting that she had been careless with her card and that might have been what happened (they were apparently operating under the assumption that there was only 1 Best Actress card, not 2).
She was just defending herself. She’s human. I don’t think it was out of line.
Yeah, I’m going to give her a pass on this one. It was a total clusterfuck on stage, so I can only imagine what was going on backstage. I’m guessing most of the journalists in the room didn’t know there were two sets of envelopes and if they don’t know that, then the logical conclusion was that something happened with the envelope Emma and Leo had. God forbid someone not act 100% perfect when they are put on the spot after an unprecedented fuckup at the biggest award show of the year that is seen around the world.
Honestly, it is pretty funny if you overlook the fact that MOONLIGHT of all pictures had to have its moment ruined by this SNAFU. This is the ACADEMY AWARDS. The show that is all about elitist perfection, the one who pretends its the ultimate authority on all things film. And they screwed up in a massively public way that will haunt them for years to come. It’s the ultimate YOU HAD ONE JOB.
@veronica
I actually don’t think moonlights moment was ruined. For example, this is the only year, ever, where if you asked me who won miss universe, I know. It was Phillipines and Columbia was call the winner by mistake.
For years now, everyone is going to know what film won best picture in 2017. This is so great for Barry. So much publicity! Love it!!
Barry seems to be genuinely happy that the film won. I wish someone had the wherewithal to cut the mics and try to get the Lalaland people off the stage first so that Moonlight would have gotten a proper moment. But, I think they were in so much shock, it wouldn’t have even really made a difference.
I was so happy Moonlight won for adapted screenplay! I wish Barry had won for director!
I agree, I was sad he didn’t get to bask in the glory of winning right away, but this probably gave more publicity to the film and will get more people to watch it. It’s on iTunes now, so pretty accessible.
I wonder if people will continue watching the Oscars in the coming years? Lots of younger people mainly watch buzzy series on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. My 28 year old probably only saw one movie in the theater last year (Moonlight). Everything else he watches on his computer or airplays onto tv.
I don’t think it will help, but I would love for the Academy to show what was happening in the audience, along with the cluster going on onstage. According to Lainey, Denzel was telling the Moonlight cast and crew that Josh was telling the truth and I saw a gif of the Moonlight cast finding out about their win… that should be the prevailing image, not Warren, Jimmy and the bitter LLL producers who made their speeches, fully aware of Moonlight’s win.
Josh’s words and showing the receipts, split screened with the Moonlight cast and crew’ reaction in the audience, ending with their speeches… that should get as much screen time as the cluster.
I also hated the way Jordan Horowitz grabbed the card from Warren. I realize he was trying to take control…but he treated Beatty as if he was an imbecile.
Come on…show the man some respect.
That was so rude and it still bothers me, honestly said.
I felt really sorry for Beatty.
NM
I didn’t love it either, it was disrespectful. But I think Warren wouldn’t hand it to him and he probably just wanted this to end and get the people from Moonlight on stage. He seemed really hectic. NONE of this was cute. PWC is so f*cked.
Warren wouldnt hand it to him because he was trying to show it to Barry. This douche should have let the host do his job. Maybe Moonlight would have had a more ceremonial moment then. In other words, Jimmy thanks these guys, tells them to leave the stage, tells a few jokes to diffuse and then has Warrren and Faye read out the proper card again. Moonlight then comes up and has their spotlight.
Now Moonlights moment involves being called up by some surly douche who has completely stolen their moment with everybody applauding HIM for being “gracious” instead of the movie that won.
Honestly can you imagine the amount of adrenaline and crazy happening at the moment? I don’t think it occurred to him he was being rude, he was probably trying to take action and adrenaline kicked in. I’ve been in situations like these and it’s crazy stressful, half the time you don’t even know what you’re doing till after
@Den – Kimmel was to busy fluffing around telling bad jokes to do his job as host. It was chaos on that stage and someone had to take control and explain the situation. Horowitz was panicked and the audience was too stunned to believe what he and the others were saying. Thats why he snatched that card (as rude as it was and Beaty was clearly not letting those cards out of his hands) to prove to everyone who the correct winner was.
That PWC accountant should be fired – he was tweeting like mad backstage and supposedly was to busy tweeting a photo of Emma Stone to pay attention to what he should have been doing. He then went on to delete several tweets including the Emma Stone one he posted as she was leaving the stage with her Oscar. He screwed up and then tried to cover his ass.
I honestly agree with all of you in some way. I would have loved for someone other than Horowitz to take control (not necessarily Warren’s job tbh) and get the stage cleared and explain the mistake, show the card and have the Moonlight people come up to the stage. It was such a mess! I was over my friend’s apartment with my coat and shoes on, ready to leave and I was like huh? Then I cheered because I was happy for Moonlight (such an important film in my humble opinion).
At first I was so confused I thought he was pulling a Ving Rhames giving his award to Jack Lemon. But then I thought, no wait, two people already gave speeches and that guy just said we lost by the way. And then I saw the producers and the accountant on stage and I said, oh wow this is real!
I think the guy was brusque and rude to Beatty, but he was just trying to clear up the moment of confusion. Apparently Barry Jenkins was hesitant and he wanted to show him that Moonlight did in fact win.
All in all that was a giant cluster. I don’t think there was any conspiracy. I really hate the one saying Warren and Faye were so so upset that Moonlight was on the card that he stalled and she blurted out Lalaland (and yes, that’s a real theory going around). Obviously someone was going to correct that error lol. I don’t think it was a stunt, either. I do think they are probably secretly hoping this leads to a ratings boost next year!
This was just an awkward situation all around and that PWC guy is going down.
It’s also really making me roll my eyes that people are applauding how incredible and gracious he seemed…really? That’s our bar now? What did people expect, for him to run off the stage with the statue?
What? Didn’t he say something to the effect of “I would be honored to hand this over to my friends from Moonlight?” Sounds like grace under pressure to me.
I read that he is friendly with Jenkins, so he was probably genuinely happy for him.
He said that after Jimmy Kimmel made things even more awkward by saying why can’t you both just win. Just hush Jimmy, you are not helping lol!
I think he was probably livid at being embarrassed on live tv, but I agree Jen. What was he supposed to do, steal it? He didn’t win, he didn’t have a choice. Not that I don’t feel bad that the situation wasn’t cleared up before two people gave their speeches!
this! i don’t get it either. i mentioned the same thing yesterday and earlier down below. I don’t see how giving up an award that you didn’t win is gracious. Look at the producer who went ahead and gave a speech anyways all the while knowing that he didn’t win. Or Emma Stone’s “I don’t want to start anything.”
I didn’t see rudeness so much as urgency. In the video four hands are reaching for the card, he was the one in front of the microphone, he snatched it to end the chaos by holding it up to the camera/audience.
It wasnt his job to do that. He should have stood aside quietly with his team and let Kimmel and Pwc take the mic. Then had a proper ceremonial handing over once some calm had been restored.
Yes. I agree that would have been the very best way to have handled it.
Totally agree Den. I get the guy wanting to clear things up, but having the teams from both films on stage at the same time was SO AWKWARD. And the producers from Moonlight were so shocked they weren’t able to give a proper speech!
From the second he found out Horowitz was looking around for Kimmel, or Beatty (who had the right card) or one of the multiple Oscars and PWC staff on the stage to do something, and for close to a minute he watched them doing nothing useful. At the point he started speaking, the people who should have corrected the mistake had known what had happened for 2 minutes, and they were literally just up there going from person to person explaining while letting the wrong winners give their speeches. They were making no moves at stopping things and starting over, and if they had a plan they weren’t enacting it. By that point it had dragged on way, way too long, so Horowitz acted.
What was meant to happen in this situation was one or both of the PWC people in the wings running out on stage before the wrong winners actually get up there. It’s the main reason the partners in the firm are stationed in the wings all night instead of someone lower down the totem pole, and they both failed spectacularly. Beyond that there was no plan in place for fixing things.
@Den it would have absolutely been best but under those circumstances, under that kind of pressure live on tv in front of millions, you’ve just been handed the biggest award of your life only to find out seconds later it was a mistake. I can’t imagine how to feel after that. And Kimmel was clueless and let’s not start on the incompetence of PWC who caused the whole mess. No one up there on stage had rehearsed or knew what to do, so he winged it in the moment.
Thank god actually he had the prescience to grab the envelope and hold it up for the live camera otherwise we’d be living with conspiracy and “what-if” theories forever about who won. The live broadcast was ending so time was short to make things right and get the Moonlight folks up there to get their due. I think he was upset and pumped with adrenaline in the moment as well.
It still bothers me as well, the way Horowitz snatched the envelope out of Beatty’s hand. Not right.
I don’t get why this bothers people? Beatty was up on stage the whole time, knowing a mistake had been made and making no moves himself to correct it. The proof was clutched in his hands, had been for over a minute at that point, and it needed to be shown immediately so the situation wouldn’t drag on any longer.
I also hated the way it was snatched. But I do hope it was just a moment of frenzy and he was too eager to show there were no hard feelings and wanted Moonlight to have the spotlight. In a frenzy, sometimes you have no idea how you appear. I hope he apologised to Warren behind the scenes.
I think context is really important for this one though. Right before he was talking, another producer (Alex whatshisface) had already heard that La La Land had been announced wrongly, and went ‘no’, continued to MAKE A SPEECH, and ended with ‘we lost, by the way’. That to me was the epitome of asshole last night. Jordan Horowitz was shaking his head, and was trying correct that dumbass’s c’nty move. He was asking Moonlight up to properly accept their award, even though he was obviously upset about losing. There was kind of a scramble for the card (Jimmy Kimmel was reaching for it too), and he snatched it to hold it up for the camera. I think he had a bit of a one track mind on proving that it was not a joke, since I’m pretty sure everyone in that room was completely shocked and disbelieving at that particular moment. The snatching wasn’t the best, but I think quite understandable given the circumstances.
Honestly, if anyone deserves the title of rude, it’s the director who was speaking before him. I’m giving a lot of side-eye to Emma Stone too for her comments backstage – whatever was going running through her head (I’m guessing conspiracy theories), that was not appropriate and came off as particularly ungracious. And if she truly had not even been able to hold off to wait for an explanation of why there were two best actress cards, there were a lot more ways to say it graciously than the way she did.
I think that producer was Fed Berger, who yes was behaving like an a-hole and wanted his moment in the limelight but don’t judge all those involved with LLL by him.
I know Horowitz is getting a lot of stick but he did what Kimmel should have been doing – taking control of the situation and rectifying it. Neither Kimmel, PWC or the Oscar producers where doing that. The longer it went on the more embarrassing it became for EVERYONE.
@Cs…After looking at it again, I have to agree with your argument. As to Emma Stone…SMH.
Yeah that was super weird! If he hadn’t have done that, maybe Horowitz wouldn’t have had to step in and shut it down and things could have been handled more smoothly!! I guess he was thinking, well you two made speeches and I want to make mine too. He sounded like a bitter betty with that “we lost by the way.”
Spot on @Cs, about the other LLL producer. What as ass. Horowitz came off much better IMO.
I commented above re Emma Stone backstage. When she came immediately offstage she was certainly heavily grilled re her card/envelope and how she’d handled it. I’m sure she felt people were eyeing her actions – of course because in hindsight no one knew what had happened – and was clearing the air immediately about her possible role.
Remember, these people are trained to be seen in their best light 24/7 at all times, image is everything. She was reacting as such.
I was mad at him yesterday, but somebody told me to watch it again. That he was getting more freaked out the more times he had to repeat that he wasn’t joking about it. I kind of feel bad for him. I mean, you don’t snatch stuff from other people, and be nice to the old man who tried to stall and save you the embarrassment. But I wonder how much he just wanted the Moonlight folks to take over so he could go crawl in a glass of scotch.
Another site had the camera angle showing the Moonlight team and they were hesitant and confused and I guess he really wanted to make them understand it was real, hence that card snatch. I know Annette Romanski said she still didn’t think it was real, even as she was speaking on stage.
By nature and necessity, a lot of producers are quintessential A-types on steroids: proactive, herding cats, lining up ducks, rainmaking things to happen. Along with that can come impatience, as well as the underlying belief that *you* are the one who can and are getting all the things done.
When I saw his behaviour, my first thought was, “Yep, he’s a producer.”
(This is not to excuse his untempered rudeness towards Warren Beatty, who comported himself as a gentleman and protected himself like a pro; but besides stepping in to be an emergency director/producer/stage manager/MC on a suddenly runaway sh*t show, I think Horowitz was justifiably furious – both personally, and professionally – at many of the people responsible for *this* production.)
At that point Beatty had been clutching the right card for over a minute. He wasn’t going to correct the mistake in a timely fashion, so I’m glad someone did.
Agreed, what was Warren waiting for? I’m sure Warren will get over the envelope being snatched from his hand. He’s a big boy. My sympathies are with the Moonlight people.
The producer filled an inaction vacuum with his type A personality. Sometimes that approach is needed.
“this year’s ratings weren’t that great”
You’re being very kind @Kaiser, they were terrible. Another low, and a big drop in the younger demo. The Academy is going to flip!
Maybe this incident will help next year (anything can happen!)…but I doubt it. Nothing helps. The best picture nominees this year did well at the box office sure, but not one made the top 10…or top 15. Interest is limited. Bring out Star Wars actors and tons of Marvel people to present? Nope, doesn’t work (although maybe the ratings would be even worse without that).
The only thing that might make up some of the difference is if streaming and online watchers get counted. I guess? The Oscars are not as big a deal anymore. The question is…can they be OK with that?
MIA4S, the ceremony reflects the Academy members I guess, the average member is 60 something, male and white.
In the U.K. we can’t even watch the ceremony on network tv anymore; its broadcast on one of the Sky movie channels so you need a Sky movie package. Though the time difference means only a movie buffs will watch live, the BBC used to broadcast a highlights show, but we don’t even get that anymore.
Streaming it would make more sense.
“the average member is 60 something, male and white”…and asleep by 9:30. So much of the older demographic that the AA show still pulls in can’t stay up so late anymore.
I kind of want them to move everything up, a lot. Like, let me wake up to the Academy Awards Oscar parade at 8am, then let’s have the fashion and terrible carpet interviews, then the show. And it will be done in time for my family, friends, and I to argue about it over dinner. And we can say things like “Whoever didn’t deserve to win for best song, but their baton girls had the best sequinned outfits of all the song floats!” “Emma Stone should have worn her parade gown to the awards show, it was sooo much better.” “I heard Mahershala Ali brought his own stash of candy and was throwing it little kids!”
So I’m in the younger demo. And even though I have friends and family in the industry and I like movies, I have never seen a telecast from start to finish – only clips. First of all, I’m not into award shows, award show fashions? Bring it. But award shows themselves are way too long and boring. Why watch them when you can just catch clips of the best moments?
Audiences just consume differently now. We’ll wait for the news to hit and track down the relevant five minute clip. I’m 23 and for us the living legends are DiCaprio and Affleck but we didnt tune in for their wins either.
The academy needs to just stop worrying about this issue. If the ratings get unsustainably low just stop televising them and stream instead. The point of the Oscars must always be to shine a light on smart well made films that people like me probably wouldnt hear about otherwise. I dont need Marvel and DC soiling this with blockbusters that hardly need the endorsement seeing as they already gross billions. And once you let them into the room, they’ll flood the voting process with money and movies like Moonlight truly would never stand a chance.
I dont care if they make a 16th Star Wars or Expendable sequel, go for it. I want original thought provoking movies and this is how to encourage those film makers and financiers to invest in them. There are already populist awards out there, like the MTV movie awards, thats enough. #leavetheOscarsalone 😀
Good points being made, especially the fact that the good bits can just be watched online the next day!
I also agree that it’s great when the Oscars can boost unique or smaller films (we all know Star Wars, Marvel, etc. don’t need Oscars at all). The problem is a decent chunk of the Academy’s revenue comes from advertising sold and tied to the Oscar ceremony. Low ratings in that sense are a problem. How big a problem remains to be seen. So from an artistic or “show” standpoint the Oscars did pretty alright this year. From a “biz” standpoint? Ouch!!
I have been watching the Oscars since I was a kid. I watch them, the Tonys, the Emmys and the Golden Globes out of sheer habit. I’m sure the core audience is weirdos like me lol.
I think being able to watch the highlights online adds to the ratings decline. I never watch the Grammys and just see the winners and best clips the next day. The Oscars are still very much a part of Hollywood despite the ratings decline. I can’t see them making any drastic changes.
This made me look up what the academy does. According to their financials from their website, about a quarter of their expenses goes to administrative costs. Half to hosting the awards and associated activities and the other quarter split between running the museum and a few education and cultural initiatives. In other words, throwing this massive gala is all consuming. I also looked at their income and a massive chunk of it comes from endowments.
The solution seems pretty simple. Scale back the awards. Theres no need to for an expensive glittery live broadcast when the majority of us will only watch select clips online and nobody under the age of 40 is impressed by the spectacle anyway. They can stream camera feeds from stationery cameras for the truly interested. Frankly, that would be a bigger hit with my generation because it has that reality feel and we can gossip about who was hitting on who and who hates who whenever the stage gets boring.
I don’t want to see anymore blaming and fingerpointing stories regarding Beatty and Dunaway. PWC owned up, and they should not throw the one accountant under the bus. So what if he was taking selfies, he made a mistake, people. Show a little forgiveness.
On that note, I want to read lots more about what s***bird that Jordan the card-snatcher dude was. He was so disrespectful. He’s the only one who deserves some crap in the whole snafu. And I want a public apology for his disrepectful, control monger behavior!!!
Well the only problem is PWC management told that accountant not to tweet during the job. That was reported on People today. He was asked to refrain from using twitter while he was working. So that’s a clear violation and someone will be written up or fired for doing that.
I kind of love how Beatty kept the receipts given some of the petty remarks since the debacle. If Dunaway hadn’t been so busy preening she might have noted what Beatty was trying to signal to her.
I was also a little put off when Kimmel was making lame jokes at Beatty and trying to throw him under the bus.
Some rabid GOPers are trying to hatch conspiracies and saying lib Hollywood had to do something to spike ratings…sigh…
Honestly, I think if Beatty hadn’t done that there would be a lot more conspiracy theories floating around right now. I think he was probably trying to cover his own ass, but good on him for not budging and holding on to the cards to show everyone.
Yep Warren Beatty was smart to keep everything. Or else you’d get stories of Warren going senile blah blah. I’m sure if the producers and PWC had it their way, they’d blame him.
Yes, can we stop blaming Faye and Warren. I heard so many Monday morning quarterbacks saying Warren should have done this or should have done that.
People keep praising LLL for being gracious, but what did people expect? For them to throw a tantrum on stage? They lost, and Moonlight won, so they gave the Oscars to the rightful winners. Wouldn’t most people do the same? Also, don’t forget that one of the LLL producers gave a speech even though by that point he was already aware that they lost. Yes, so gracious.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jaimieetkin/this-la-la-land-producer-knew-they-lost-before-he-made-his?utm_term=.lpMPBOMe#.jd0zbXYD
And then there’s the guy who ripped the card out of Warren’s hand. Rude. Emma Stone’s “I don’t want to start anything…” didn’t really help. I usually like Emma, but I found myself side-eyeing her on that.
I also didn’t think Jimmy helped with anything, especially not the let LLL keep the awards schtick.
For me it was the only entertaining thing through out the ceremony. The rest was a snorefest zzzzzz. Also don’t find kimmel funny in the slightest. Just sad it ruined moonlight’s moment.
Called it! As soon as it got mostly straightened out on TV, I said suitcase/envelope person was probably too busy schmoozing to double check the envelope. I’m sure by then they were feeling like the show had been going on for 14 hours and they were tired and maybe just over it. I’m ridiculously happy to be right about this thing which does not impact my life in any way.
If there is anyone to hold accountable for this fiasco that robbed Barry Jenkins and the Moonlight crew of a proper momentous win, it’s PWC’s Brian Cullinan. This guy’s claim to fame is looking like an off brand Matt Damon…which isn’t saying much. I watched a ridiculous clip of the accountants, all glammed up, walking the red carpet with their briefcases. It’s a self important, pompous and cheesy video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cF37KPBS6g
This bozo had one simple job, hand over the right fcuking envelope. According to the NY times article I read, he lost his focus fawning over Emma Stone, the epitome of white and Hawaiian femininity. He was apparently too busy taking selfies with her and then posting them on twitter to do the simple task of handing the right envelope to Warren Beatty. So, Emma, maybe you might wanna look at that before cooking up conspiracy theories.
We know that Warren Beatty can read for comprehension but Faye, maybe not.
Interesting to see the character traits that come out during a crisis. I’m not mad at the producer who acted quickly while the clock was ticking so that the Moonlight people got their chance in the spotlight. The la la land guy who kept making his speech even though he knew they lost is a jerk. Jimmy Kimmel dithering around instead of taking charge of the situation was a disappointment too.
This. Dude had one job to do and it wasn’t tweeting and taking selfies. People get sacked for a lot less. This actually makes me angry. He should get fired and PWC should get replaced. So unprofessional.
I love three things here:
1. That Warren refused to give up the envelopes. He kept them and was personally going to hand then to Barry. He was not going to be push around by any exec. Respect!
2. Faye got the eff outta there. Lol. She Saud la la land, was a big part in this mess, but clearly gives zero fcuks. Loving Faye!
3. I love that the exec at PWC effed up so bad and was friggin tweeting and sh!t while this was happening. Thinking he’s all cool. Hanging with emma backstage. Not even noticing that he gave Warren the wrong envelope. He is getting FIRED!
The fact that media ignored that Warren said “You should just keep it” is beyond sad and speaks to something much more sinister.
@Jams…actually, Jimmy was the one who said that, which made what Josh did even better. No one was doing anything productive, just posturing, which made a terrible moment all the more excrutiating. Jimmy behaved in a way that was disrespectful to the Academy. The whole dismissive approach was 100% wrong, but he gets a pass?
Ironically, Josh and the cameraman were the only people who did their job, and Josh did it despite how painful it may have been. So if there a little vinegar in the way he proved thathe wasn’t pulling a Ving, so be it!
Sinister? LOL.
I just read a report in Chicago that the guy from the tour bus, that Denzel pretended to marry, was just released from prison for attempted rape. Gary from Chicago. I’m guessing that’s why Jimmy didn’t have him on his show last night as planned?
Yet he found a dumb woman willing to marry him.
The saddest thing about this situation is the Moonlight team lost their shine that night and will never get it back after this debacle. Their win will always be tainted by this giant flub instead of having their work stand out alone as exceptional enough to merit the highest honor of that night.
It was such an embarrassing situation for them. This has never happened before to any previous best picture winners. The show’s producers had one simple job to do.
I really don’t think this is the case. I think Moonlight is one of the few movies people will remember as having won Best Picture *because* of this debacle.
Nothing is tainted. They haven’t “lost their shine never to get it back.”
You’re entitled to your point; I respectfully disagree and feel their win is forever tainted.
I think the Moonlight team simply deserved a better outcome, no amount of “extra publicity” makes up for their lost moment.
I think people are taking this too seriously. Once, Sammy Davis Jr. also was given a wrong envelope (the guy who’s name he read wasn’t even nominated in that category). When he got the correct envelope, he pulled a pair of reading glasses out of his pocket and said, “I ain’t gonna make no mistake this time, baby!” The audience laughed, and that was that.
Yes!!!!
This Hollywood Reporter article provides some good insight on what may have happened:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/defense-warren-beatty-at-oscars-981410
I’d like to have focus back on Moonlight and its amazing win as Best Picture.
Here’s a round table of Oscar nominated directors.
All of Barry Jenkin’s remarks about filmmaking and the movie were excerpted out and put together in the clip below. After I watched the movie, I went online and pulled up so many interviews. I love Barry’s, but I also loved the actors’. Some moved me to tears. The passion of the actor Trevante Rhodes, who played the adult Chiron, was a great read. He is a very sensitive artist.
Enjoy. Barry Jenkins in the roundtable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az29rWRZXII
I was so impressed with his round table interview. What a class act. Thanks for the suggestion to check out the actors interviews too! I’m going to do that now!
I will say this about moonlight. No one will ever forget what film won the oscar for best picture 2017. This publicity is amazing. Moonlight is already #1 in the apple store. Yay Barry!!!!
I wonder had this been the Tony’s, would a stage trained actor have simply said this is the incorrect envelope and winged it while things got sorted out? I wondered why Beatty didn’t simply say so, make a small joke, be his charming self. But he was flummoxed.
It’s crazy to me that everyone is so quick to judge everyone for responding to something differently than they would. Feeling offended that Jimmy would make fun of a name for being ethnic is valid. But everything else is just an intolerance to people being different. Ryan laughed. Warren didn’t respond as you would. The producer was proactive in a moment where he knew that someone else had won an award and nobody else was getting them up on stage. Everyone is screaming for tolerance until it becomes about allowing people to be unique individuals who have their own natural responses to something. Then it’s IMPERATIVE that they’re perfect and conform exactly to everyone’s standards. It’s exhausting and extremely disheartening.