The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has apologised to the casts and crews of La La Land and Moonlight and said it “deeply regrets the mistakes” that led to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announcing the wrong film as winner of the best picture award.
In its first statement since the debacle at the end of the 89th Academy Awards stunned the stars gathered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and made headlines around the world, the Academy paid tribute to the “tremendous grace” shown by those involved in both films and acknowledged their experience of the night was “profoundly altered by this error”.
The statement went on to say that PwC – formerly Price Waterhouse Coopers, the accounting firm that has been used by the Academy to handle the voting process for 83 years – had taken full responsibility for “breaches of established protocols” that led to the error.
“We have spent last night and today investigating the circumstances, and will determine what actions are appropriate going forward,” it said.
PwC, in its own statement, said its staff did not move quickly enough to correct the unprecedented error and placed the blame squarely at the feet of company partner Brian Cullinan, one of two accountants whose job it was to hand out the winners’ envelopes.
The two partners – Cullinan and Martha Ruiz – each carry duplicate envelopes of the complete set of results, held in the wings at each side of the stage to hand to presenters as they arrive.
PwC said several mistakes were made and that the two partners assigned to the prestigious awards show did not act quickly enough when La La Land was mistakenly announced as the best picture winner.
It took so long for the mistake to be rectified – more than two minutes – that three of La La Land producers had given their acceptance speeches by the time the real winner emerged.
“PwC takes full responsibility for the series of mistakes and breaches of established protocols during last night’s Oscars,” the company wrote. It said Cullinan had mistakenly handed presenters Beatty and Dunaway an envelope for the best actress award, won by Emma Stone for La La Land.
“Once the error occurred, protocols for correcting it were not followed through quickly enough by Mr Cullinan or his partner,” the statement read.
It did not address in detail which protocols were violated, or say whether a tweet Cullinan sent about Stone before the best picture announcement contributed to the mistake. The tweet was later deleted.
The firm apologised to Beatty, Dunaway, the cast and crew of La La Land and Moonlight, the Academy, and host Jimmy Kimmel.
“We wish to extend our deepest gratitude to each of them for the graciousness they displayed during such a difficult moment,” the statement said. “For the past 83 years, the academy has entrusted PwC with the integrity of the awards process during the ceremony, and last night we failed the Academy.”
The statement came after a day of speculation about how the worst gaffe in Oscars history unfolded. The fiasco launched countless punchlines, memes and a probe of what went wrong.
On Monday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal reported that Cullinan had tweeted a behind-the-scenes photo of Stone holding her statuette. The tweet, sent moments before the best picture announcement, raised the question of whether the accountant was distracted, handing Beatty the duplicate envelope.
Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel used his regular late-night show on Monday to explain how the chaos unfolded, explaining that Beatty had made Dunaway read out the winner because he was worried it might not be right.
“Clyde threw Bonnie under a bus; it was a slick move,” he said.
Kimmel said he had been just as confused as everyone else on stage. “Who the hell knows who’s who from each movie,” he said. “I’m feeling bad for these guys and also trying really hard not to laugh.”
Kimmel said he spent the rest of the evening answering questions about the fiasco and insisting it was not an elaborate prank.
“If I had pulled a prank it wouldn’t have just been the wrong winner in the envelope, it would have been a Bed Bath and Beyond coupon or something. It was not a prank.”
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