The 2017 Oscars ended with a moment that will simply never be forgotten.
The world was shook on Sunday night when La La Land was wrongly announced by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the winner of the Best Picture Oscar. The error was not the fault of the presenters — they were handed the wrong card.
Things were awry before the “winner” was even announced. In the seconds leading up to the incorrect unveiling, Warren pauses before announcing the winner. As you watch in hindsight, you can tell he felt that something was wrong:
Look at Warren Beatty check the envelope a second time. He knew something was wrong #Oscars pic.twitter.com/ko27lOetiB
— Hawkeye KSCS DJ (@HawkeyeOnAir) February 27, 2017
Mid-way through La La Land’s team accepting the Best Picture award, the thank you’s were paused and the shocking news was unveiled: It was actually Moonlight who won Best Picture.
After Moonlight was announced as the real winner, Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel stepped in and tried to keep the show together, but at that point, it was too late. “I opened the envelope and it said ‘Emma Stone, La La Land.’ That’s why I took such a long look,” presenter Warren Beatty added. “I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
Watch video of the full Oscar screw up video:
Watching the #Oscars producers slowly tell the #LaLaLand team they didn't win Best Picture is WILD. Keep your eyes on the background pic.twitter.com/3TRUWZAMjH
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) February 27, 2017
The ceremony ended moments later, leaving the Oscars on a note that can only be described as shook. It sucks for the La La Land team in particular, who believed for a few minutes that they were the Best Picture winners. It also sucks for the Moonlight people, because their moment was dragged down by the worst mistake in Oscars history.
On the other hand.. it made for amazing live television.
An official explanation for the screw up hasn’t been offered by The Academy yet, but clearly the wrong envelope got into the hands of Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.
There are reportedly two printed copies of each Oscar winner, and they’re kept separately from one another for security purposes (in case one set goes missing). This could explain why there was a second Emma Stone / La La Land card that got into Warren Beatty’s hands.
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