The 89th Annual Academy Awards ended on a confusing note, to say the least, after a mistake in the named winner of Best Picture.
Actor Warren Beatty was on stage presenting the award with actress Faye Dunaway and after pausing to read the winner, he looked to Dunaway. She then announced that the award went to musical "La La Land."
The filmmakers were in the middle of giving out thank yous when they were interrupted by "La La Land" producer Jordan Horowitz.
It turns out the winner of the Best Picture Oscar was "Moonlight."
"I'm sorry ... There's a mistake. 'Moonlight' -- you guys won Best Picture," Horowitz said. "This is not a joke. 'Moonlight' has won Best Picture."
Horowitz showed the shocked audience the winner card for proof.
"This is very unfortunate," host Jimmy Kimmel said, before joking. "Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this," he joked.
Beatty said he paused when reading not as a joke, but because when he opened the envelope, it had Emma Stone's name and "La La Land," "which is why I took such a long look at Faye, and at you," Beatty said. "I wasn't trying to be funny."
The Washington Post reported that "Moonlight" director Barry Jenkins, still shocked, spoke onstage, saying, "Even in my dreams this could not be true, but to hell with dreams, I'm done with it because this is true. Oh my goodness."
People reported that "Moonlight" co-executive producer Adele Romanski turned the focus to the film's impact.
"I think I hope even more than that it's inspiring to people -- little black boys and brown girls and other folks watching at home who feel marginalized and take some inspiration from seeing this beautiful group of artists held by this amazing talent, my friend Barry Jenkins standing up on here on this stage accepting this top honor."
Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which tallies Academy Awards votes, issued the following statement:
"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," the statement said. "The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. 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."
See video of the mishap below.
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