Oscars 2017: Tweeting accountant blamed for Best Picture goof-up

Prior to learning of a presentation error La La Land producers Marc Platt speaking at microphone Jordan Horowitz and Fred Berger accept the Best Picture award for La La Land later awarded to actual Best Picture winner Moonlight onstage during the 89th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood amp Highland Center on February 26 2017 in Hollywood California PicAFPLos Angeles An accountant for the Academy Awards botched the meticulous procedure for announcing the Oscar for best picture when he handed victory to La La Land before declaring Moonlight the real winner PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC said on MondayAccountant Brian Cullinan who media reports said had been tweeting backstage shortly before gave presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope for the movie industrys top award on Sunday the accounting firm said in a statementIn a gaffe that stunned the Dolby Theatre crowd in Hollywood and a television audience worldwide Cullinan mistakenly handed the backup envelope for Actress in a Leading Role instead of the envelope for Best Picture to Beatty and Dunaway PwC saidOnce the error occurred protocols for correcting it were not followed through quickly enough by Mr Cullinan or his partner The Wall Street Journal and celebrity website TMZcom reported that Cullinan had posted a backstage photo of actress Emma Stone on social network Twitter minutes before the mixupThe photo from Cullinans Twitter account was later deleted but was still viewable on Monday on a cached archive of the page Cullinan could not immediately be reached for commentThe mistake was not rectified until the La La Land cast and producers were on stage giving their acceptance speeches It was left to the musicals producer Jordan Horowitz to put things rightGuys guys Im sorry No Theres a mistake Horowitz said Moonlight you guys won best picture This is not a jokeIt took three hours for PricewaterhouseCoopers which has been overseeing Academy Awards balloting for 83 years initially to confirm that Beatty and Dunaway received the wrong category envelopePwC said it took full responsibility and apologized to the casts and crews of La La Land and MoonlightWe sincerely apologize to Warren Beatty Faye Dunaway host Jimmy Kimmel broadcaster ABC and the Academy none of whom was at fault for last nights errors it said in its statementThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which organizes the Oscars also apologized for the mishap and said it was committed to upholding the integrity of the OscarsWe have spent last night and today investigating the circumstances and will determine what actions are appropriate going forward it said in a statementAn embarrassed Beatty carried the envelope to the glitzy Governors Ball after the show with the writing clearly saying actress in a leading role La La Land star Stone had been awarded that Oscar moments beforeExcept for the end it was fun Kimmel said on Monday referring to the Oscar show he hostedYou know its a strange night when the word envelope is trending on Twitter he said on his ABC show Jimmy Kimmel LiveNot Advanced mathBrand management experts said it could take years for PricewaterhouseCoopers to recover This is not advanced math PwC had to get the right name in the right envelope and get it to the right person said Tim Calkins a marketing professor at Northwestern University calling the blunder a bit of a branding tragedyUnder a PwC procedure just two accountants know the names of the 24 winners after their names are placed in two sets of sealed envelopes The two accountants also memorize the winning namesTradition has it that the envelopes are taken separately in two briefcases to the Academy Awards venue The two accountants in this case Cullinan and Martha Ruiz are driven there separately in case of an accident or traffic delaysThe pair then stand off stage at opposite sides and hand envelopes to the respective presenters as each category is announcedLast week Cullinan told the Huffington Post the procedure for dealing with the handoff of an incorrect envelope other than signaling to a stage manager was unclearIts so unlikely Cullinan addedThe error was corrected quickly although precious minutes passed said Anthony Sabino a law professor at St Johns University in New YorkIts not as if we woke up this morning or if it had been uncovered after the telecast was over That would have really have been a black eye he addedCompared to accounting fraud at other companies in the past this incident diminished vastly to a vanishing point Sabino saidThe Moonlight filmmakers were gracious about the error Director Barry Jenkins told reporters backstage that he received no immediate explanation for the mixup though it made a very special feeling even more special but not in the way I expectedJenkins added Please write this down The folks from La La Land were so gracious