PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm in charge of the ballot-counting process for the Oscars, has apologized to 'Moonlight', 'La La Land' and other involved parties for the mistake.
- February 27, 2017
AceShowbiz -
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm in charge of the ballot-counting process for the 2017 Academy Awards, has issued an apology following the Best Picture blunder. In a statement released via Twitter, the accounting firm apologized to the involved parties for the shocking mix-up that saw the wrong film announced as Best Picture.
"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," said PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has overseen the Academy's ballot-counting process for 83 years.
"The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected," the statement continued. "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."
— PwC LLP (@PwC_LLP) February 27, 2017
At the Sunday evening, February 26 event, Beatty and Dunaway were on hand to present Best Picture, but they wrongly declared "La La Land" as the winner of the top prize instead of "Moonlight". It was not until the cast and crew of the Damien Chazhelle-directed musical movie took the stage to deliver the speeches when they realized the mistake.
Beatty then tried to explain what happened. "I opened the envelope, and it said, 'Emma Stone, 'La La Land'.' That's why I took a long look at Faye and at you. I wasn't trying to be funny," he said. Stone was announced as the winner of Best Actress a few minutes earlier.
