AMPAS Mistakenly Gives Best Picture Oscar To LA LA LAND

MOONLIGHT was the actual winner. What happened?

By Feb. 27, 2017

If you stayed up for the end of the Oscars, you saw something truly historic happen. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, who have a history of ending their joint on-camera ventures a bit messily, came out to announce the winner for Best Picture. Beatty opened the envelope. This envelope.

He stared at it for a bit, and dragged out reading the name on the envelope in what appeared to be an attempt at some comical business. Ms. Dunaway cajoled him, and when he showed her the envelope, she read “La La Land.” The La La Land team came onstage and began giving their speeches. Meanwhile, production crew members scrambled behind them, examining the envelope; Warren Beatty was curiously still there, talking to a man on a headset. 

This is what happened next.

First things first: immeasurable grace and tact from La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz. As trainwreck-y as this moment is for us slobs on our couch, we can only imagine the emotion of this insane moment, and Mr. Horowitz handled it with aplomb, congratulating his friends who produced actual Best Picture winner Moonlight and literally passing the mic. It was kind of a beautiful moment, really.

Second: What happened? Emma Stone, whose name was inside the envelope Beatty opened, was quick to say backstage, “"I was holding my best actress card the whole time so whatever story you heard, I don't know what happened, but I wanted to tell you that." At the moment it seems Beatty was handed the wrong envelope - a duplicate envelope for the Best Actress category. He saw the problem when he opened it, and when he showed his issue to Ms. Dunaway, she saw the movie's title on the card (under Emma Stone's name) and read it out loud. 

This was literally a nightmare for everyone involved, but here's the thing: not only did we get to see celebs being human and fallible, we saw Oscar nominees being kind to one another, and for the first time in maybe a dozen years, you will have no trouble rememebering what movie won Best Picture a year down the road. 

On top of all that, we got to enjoy some weapons-grade snark on social media. And that's what really matters here today.

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