{"id":2393,"date":"2017-02-27T09:49:08","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T17:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=2393"},"modified":"2017-02-27T09:49:08","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T17:49:08","slug":"pwc-issues-sincere-apology-after-oscars-best-picture-envelope-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=2393","title":{"rendered":"PwC issues ‘sincere apology’ after Oscars best picture envelope mistake"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accountancy firm that has overseen the counting of the Oscars ballots for 83 years, has apologised for the most spectacular blunder in the history of the starry ceremony \u2013 when the award for best film was mistakenly presented to La La Land instead of the actual winner Moonlight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The company promised to investigate the error after Warren Beatty, who was presenting the best picture award with Faye Dunaway, ended up with the wrong envelope<\/a>. \u201cWe 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,\u201d a PwC statement said.<\/p>\n

Attention will focus on a provision intended to make the system failsafe: there are duplicate envelopes of the complete set of results, held in the wings in case anything should go wrong with a presenter or an envelope. The key question will be whether the duplicate of the best actress award, which had just been announced, was handed to Beatty in the wings as he walked out to announce the best picture winner.<\/p>\n

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\"Faye<\/picture><\/div>\n
Facebook<\/span><\/a>Twitter<\/span><\/a>Pinterest<\/span><\/a><\/div>
Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty open the envelope that later turned out the be the wrong one. Photograph: Image Group LA\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PwC, one of the best-known accountancy firms in the world, has supervised counting the ballots and the announcements, for the majority of Academy Awards ceremonies. Its employees wait in the wings, passing the results to the presenters. The humiliating failure of a system that was supposed to be foolproof, checked and counterchecked repeatedly, could not have been more public \u2013 watched by Hollywood stars and millions of people across the world on television.<\/p>\n

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Some of the focus has shifted to PWC supervisors Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, who oversee the counting procedures and are the only two people who know the winners list before the ceremony.<\/p>\n

In a prescient interview with the Huffington Post last week, under the headline \u201cWhat Would Happen If A Presenter Announced The Wrong Winner At The Oscars?\u201d<\/a>, Cullinan and Ruiz discuss the \u201cunlikely\u201d eventuality that the wrong nominee will be called.<\/p>\n

Cullinan and Ruiz told the news website that the exact procedure for dealing with such a mistake is unknown because such errors had never been made in the Oscars\u2019 88-year history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would make sure that the correct person was known very quickly,\u201d Cullinan told the Huffington Post. \u201cWhether that entails stopping the show, us walking onstage, us signalling to the stage manager \u2013 that\u2019s really a game-time decision, if something like that were to happen. Again, it\u2019s so unlikely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruiz and Cullinan wrote of their excitement at attending the ceremony on Twitter but have gone quiet since the blunder.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Brian Cullinan<\/span>(@briancullinan_)<\/span><\/p>\n

Interview on Fox News yesterday about Oscar weekend! The day is here! #Oscars<\/a> #PWC<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/TOro4wY6WK<\/a><\/p>\n

February 26, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

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\"\"Martha Ruiz<\/span>(@MarthaLTRuiz)<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting ready to head to the show… pic.twitter.com\/9R8XQKAhTa<\/a><\/p>\n

February 26, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

A close-up photograph of Beatty\u2019s hand as he came on stage showed he was holding an envelope for the best actress award \u2013 which had already been announced and went to Emma Stone, the star of La La Land<\/a>. Stone said she had retained the envelope announcing her Oscar, so Beatty must have been holding the duplicate.<\/p>\n