PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm in charge of vote counting for the Oscars, has released a statement “sincerely apologising” for Sunday night’s spectacular best picture blunder.
The award was initially wrongly presented to the cast and crew of “La La Land” instead of the true winner, “Moonlight,” in possibly the biggest screw-up in Oscars history.
A statement released by PricewaterhouseCoopers said presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were mistakenly handed the category envelope for best actress, a duplicate of the one that had earlier been awarded to Emma Stone of “La La Land.”
Sunday night marked the 89th Academy Awards; PwC has overseen its vote counting for 83 years. Two cards are created for each winner and handed to two PwC employees who wait in the wings and hand them to the awards presenters.
In a statement, PwC said:
"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 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."
It wasn't until after multiple people involved with "La La Land," including producer Jordan Horowitz, had begun to give acceptance speeches that the error was realised and Horowitz handed the award to "Moonlight."